|
|
|
|
Blogs by Flying Fox AKA Ted L Glines
Reading, 'Riting, & 'Rithmetic
1/18/2009 2:36:25 AM
This blog is simply my uncanny grasp of the obvious noticing that we have a problem. But it begs the question -- what are we going to do about it?
Working nights, I caught Al Sharpton on CNN on Sunday (way early) morning, where he commented about kids not knowing how to read and write. As a trend of declination, this is so true. Good comment. But there are some other trends causing this.
Writing: Cursive handwriting is now mostly obsolete except for signing credit card authorizations and documents, and these signatures are speedily being replaced by "electronic signatures." As of right now, only aged people do any amount of handwriting. As they die off, handwriting will die with them. Recently on blogs and in the news, we have seen teachers calling for an end to the teaching of cursive handwriting because mainstream people in America are no longer using this skill. I am 68 years old and I have beautiful handwriting, but I very seldom use it. Keyboards, large and small, have now replaced the pencil and pen.
Reading: I asked my sister about this. She has recently retired from a 36-year career as a K-12 teacher/librarian in New Jersey. She has watched the usage of her libraries declining for years, especially during the past 15 years. DVDs and Websites, Chat Rooms, Blogs, and Message Forums, have replaced the reading of books. When I was a young man, every person's home seemed to have a shelf of books, something seldom seen in homes today. We are told that the American average reading level is declining. It was at "8th grade average" reading level in the late 1980s. My sister adds that "No Child Left Behind" has damaged teaching abilities in the classrooms. At the same time as students have become great little test-takers, they have not been learning the basics.
Sharpton could have added arithmetic to his comments. I have two young front desk clerks, both of them high school graduates, and neither one of them is capable of adding or subtracting on paper using a pencil or pen. Give them a calculator, and they do fine. Doing manual basic arithmetic is beyond them. We will pray that their batteries will never fail.
We have major issues in American education today. The key issue is that American parents do not push their children into a need for learning. The opposite is true in China and in India, where children are driven to learn and excel. On our college and university level, we see American students seeking degrees in business and the liberal arts; avoiding degree studies in science, medicine, and technology. So, we have a decline in technology graduates in a time when corporate technical people are retiring, leaving important vacancies which must be filled ... by graduate students from India and China. It strikes me that we are building our own problem.
Comments (7)
More Blogs by Flying Fox AKA Ted L Glines
• Muse Works - Thursday, April 16, 2009
• Voice vs. Grammar - Wednesday, March 18, 2009
• Plastic Alert - Thursday, March 05, 2009
• Decomposition - Sunday, February 15, 2009
• Happy Valentine's Day!!! - Saturday, February 14, 2009
• Bailout for Hurting AD Members Needed Now - Tuesday, February 10, 2009
• Child-Molester Issue - Monday, February 09, 2009
• Freedoms Lost - Sunday, February 08, 2009
• Outraged Americans - Saturday, February 07, 2009
• Brrrrrrrrrr!!! - Thursday, February 05, 2009
• Relationships Found - Sunday, February 01, 2009
• An Historic New Beginning - Tuesday, January 20, 2009
• Reading, 'Riting, & 'Rithmetic - Sunday, January 18, 2009
• Jesus vs. Churches - Friday, January 16, 2009
• Ideological Wars - Tuesday, January 13, 2009
• Free Archive/Publishing - Sunday, January 11, 2009
• Poetry -- Natural vs. Schooled - Friday, January 09, 2009
• I Hate Fudge - Friday, January 09, 2009
• Economic Crisis vs. AD Membership - Friday, January 09, 2009
• TWF Musings 4Jan09 - Sunday, January 04, 2009
• God vs. Ideologies - Tuesday, December 30, 2008
• Why God Allows Harm - Wednesday, December 24, 2008
• Brief Vampire Career - Saturday, December 06, 2008
• Condemnation of Jihadi Terrorists - Sunday, November 30, 2008
• Publish on CNN Site - Saturday, November 29, 2008
• Low Maintenance - Friday, November 28, 2008
• Boston Globe October 26, 2008 - Sunday, October 26, 2008
• New Jack London Book - Friday, October 24, 2008
• Checkered Flag for Obama? - Sunday, October 19, 2008
• Politics Unusual - Friday, October 17, 2008
• Greeting Card Market Considerations - Saturday, October 11, 2008
• Internet Footprint - Saturday, October 11, 2008
• Election Rules Need Changing - Tuesday, October 07, 2008
• Campaign 2008 - Monday, March 03, 2008
• Mendacities of Campaign 2008 - Sunday, March 02, 2008
• Command Performance - Thursday, May 24, 2007
• Organic Eggs - Friday, May 04, 2007
• Very Small World - Sunday, April 15, 2007
• Next Big Writer - Thursday, March 15, 2007
• Spirit versus Body - Sunday, March 04, 2007
• American Waste - Sunday, March 04, 2007
• Spinach ... or ... Pot? - Friday, March 02, 2007
• Won an Award!!! - Monday, February 26, 2007
• Lightworker - Saturday, February 03, 2007
• Winning - Monday, January 29, 2007
• Terrible Situation - Monday, January 29, 2007
• MSW - Sunday, January 21, 2007
• Joining - Sunday, January 21, 2007
• Psychic Patty - Thursday, January 18, 2007
• Madness - Tuesday, January 16, 2007
• Freedoms? - Sunday, January 14, 2007
• Returning to Iraq - Sunday, January 14, 2007
• Best Road Rage - Saturday, January 13, 2007
• Freewebs.com - Thursday, January 11, 2007
• Personal Tolerance Level of Artists - Tuesday, January 09, 2007
• Illegal Alien Workers - Monday, January 08, 2007
• Best 20th Century Poem - Wednesday, January 03, 2007
• Amnesiac Memoir 12/31/06 - Sunday, December 31, 2006
• Howdy - Saturday, December 30, 2006
• Euphoria - Thursday, December 28, 2006
• Close Family Ties - Wednesday, December 27, 2006
• Day 9 Stats - Tuesday, December 26, 2006
• Those Good Ole ... - Monday, December 25, 2006
• Our Choir Listens - Sunday, December 24, 2006
• About "Ice" - Saturday, December 23, 2006
• AuthorsDen as a Marketing Agent - Friday, December 22, 2006
• Hotel and Clock - Thursday, December 21, 2006
• A New Year 2007 - Wednesday, December 20, 2006
• That is the Question ... - Tuesday, December 19, 2006
|
|
Bookmarks
