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New York, 7:44 PM
Sat Nov 28
12 posts in the last 24 hours
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05/10/09
I tried, really.
I guess it didn't take.
05/10/09
My theory is that much of what we call "literacy" is heavily context-dependent -- and institutional attempts to incorporate context in tests of literacy don't exactly inspire confidence in me.
I used to teach at-risk junior-high-schoolers. Many would have been identified as problem readers on tests. Yet if I had been asked to rate their real-world literacy levels, I would certainly have taken into consideration their abilities to grasp the meanings of texts displayed in video games or on internet sites that they frequented. Yet institutional evaluations of literacy almost always omit such real-world abilities.
I also question the quality of the institutional writings on which people are supposed to test their reading abilities. My favorite example of institutional writings are the disclosure pamphlets you get from your bank when you open a checking account. (When I worked at a bank, I used to contribute to the writing of those awful trainwrecks.) I propose that someone who decided to put zero effort into deciphering those is making a rational decision.
This isn't a response to the linked article, which seems low on details anyway. I just generally tune out reports of this type, because the likelihood that they accurately describe a real phenomenon (which may nevertheless exist) just seems overwhelmingly remote to me.
05/10/09
@Almostbanned: whether someone can read or white or has difficulty isn't the issue. the fact that a 57-year-old has trouble doing skills that by age 15 should be mastered is the problem. call it illiterate or whatever, it's still not good.
05/10/09
I know that this doesn't fit the 'Americans who don't live in NYC are dumb' template as well. Sorry.
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01/12/09
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01/12/09
In all fairness, I don't think he's doing the legwork on the research. Also, he used to be in marketing at General Mills once upon a time.
01/12/09
01/12/09
His marketing oeuvre included, if I am not mistaken, the Kool-Aid Man.
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01/12/09
This is from his website??
The Country Wife
She makes her way through the dark trees
Down to the lake to be alone.
Following their voices on the breeze,
She makes her way. Through the dark trees
The distant stars are all she sees.
They cannot light the way she's gone.
She makes her way through the dark trees
Down to the lake to be alone.
The night reflected on the lake,
The fire of stars changed into water.
She cannot see the winds that break
The night reflected on the lake
But knows they motion for her sake.
These are the choices they have brought her:
The night reflected on the lake,
The fire of stars changed into water.
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