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Why Kids Can’t Write
Dana Goldstein of the NYT looks at the big problem in education today- the failure to teach reading and writing skills to students in American schools. Goldstein cites two alarming statistics. About 40% of students who took the ACT writing exam in the high school class of 2016 lack the reading and writing skills to pass a college level composition class in English. 8th and 12th grade classes in the U.S. have 75% of the students lacking writing skills proficiency, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Of the 1204 comments to this article in the NYT, many of the 17 selected by NYT say the problem is that students lack reading skills. Other problems shown here are the handicaps created by technology, yes technology. Mobile phone use is common and this is done quickly with the least attention to write good sentences, little attention to punctuation, spelling or grammar. Half or incomplete sentences are easier to type on mobile, so a new generation grows up thinking that this is normal. As a result a whole generation of kids have not learned to read or write well, constructing sentences with limited vocabulary. Steve Jobs and Apple may say that iPads and iPhones, smartphones and other tech devices have advanced reading with the beautiful display technology screens, but this is not what is really happening. Google may say that its search helps people access good reading materials, and this too is not what is really happening.
Equally alarming is that there is no clear agreement on how to tackle this problem. The No Child Left Behind 2002 law set a program emphasizing reading and use of multiple choice questions to test reading skills. This was followed by the Common Core standards now implemented in schools for 6 years that shift the focus to writing. Yet the results are still the same, showing little progress.
Goodman cites as examples of disagreement, the Writing Revolution project which focusses on grammar and other writing skills, and the Long Island Writing Project that focusses on students finding their own voice by freewriting. A student in the freewriting class which encourages finding your own voice, expresses her frustration by saying she doesn't hear a voice- what voice, she asks.
One of the problems is that teachers themselves lack writing skills. A look at 2400 teacher preparation programs shows little attention paid to teaching writing. The head of the Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University's Teachers College, says Common Core failed in implementation of massive teacher training, which is required to address the problem.
As a result remediation programs are needed badly in colleges to fix literacy skills, when better teaching would have prevented the problem in the first place.
Little understood or debated is that every generation has to learn about the country's democratic institutions, every generation has to make its own effort to gain civic literacy- it is not something that can be taken for granted or handed down from one generation to the next. Without reading and learning about how these institutions function, young people lack the skills for participating in our democracy and in the global economy.
Kids who can't read or write- the failure in American schools with 75% of 8th and 12th graders lacking reading and writing skills.
08/03/2017
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The New York Times 08/02/2017
Vocabulary and reading in American education
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Economist 02/20/2009
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Librarianâs Love of Books Began in Her Struggles to Read
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Students Fall Flat in Vocabulary Test
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The demand for children's reading activities at New York neighborhood branch libraries in 2015
11/01/2015
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Long Line at the Library? It’s Story Time Again
New York Times 11/01/2015
The New York Times 08/02/2017
iPads vs. paper books for reading to children or how to integrate iPads with paper books and libraries for a fuller experience
10/11/2014
The role of reading in a child's development is crucial for the child's future, with parents reading to children an activity to be encouraged and fostered by society in every way. How can parents use electronic technology of iPads to shift some of the television time to the wider selection of books and programs of educational value for children? Training children to make wise and useful choices of educational value from the wide proliferating selection on the internet is itself an exercize that is needed, just as the exercize of showing children how to make wise and useful eating choices is needed.
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Is E-Reading to Your Toddler Story Time, or Simply Screen Time?
New York Times 10/11/2014
The Great Gift of Reading Aloud
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015
Long Line at the Library? It’s Story Time Again
New York Times 11/01/2015
The New York Times 08/02/2017
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01/12/2012
Reading to understand the world around us and the worlds before our time.
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Librarianâs Love of Books Began in Her Struggles to Read
New York Times 10/15/2013
The Great Gift of Reading Aloud
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015
Washington Post 12/25/2015
What literary challenges have you conquered? - The Washington Post
Washington Post 01/12/2012
The New York Times 08/02/2017
Silicon Valley and education standards in the U.S.- the Common Core program for higher student scores in math and reading
07/22/2013
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U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
New York Times 08/18/2013
New York Times 01/18/2014
Republicans See Political Wedge in Common Core
New York Times 04/19/2014
Why Silicon Valley Will Continue to Rule the Tech Economy
Wall Street Journal 08/23/2014
English Class in Common Core Era: ‘Tom Sawyer’ and Court Opinions
New York Times 06/19/2015
"Don't take books out, it's so expensive"- the library systems in San Jose with exorbitant late fees compared to San Francisco and New York's even more welcoming attitude
03/30/2016
The American Library Association and librarians in most parts of America sees the goal of libraries to increase access to books, especially low income families without broad band connections. The situation in San Jose described by Carol Pogash in the NYT is shocking because it discourages young people from taking out books, with parents on low incomes unable to handle the excessive late fees. At a time when America's goal should be to lift the next generation of low income families, especially immigrants, and integrate them better in society, libraries in low income parts of San Jose are in a situation where some are described as deserted because of late fees. San Francisco charges significantly less in late fees. And New York uses more reading time spent in the library as a way to pay off late fees. An approach taken by some libraries is to not impose late fees on people under the age of 16.
Grouped Articles
In San Jose, Poor Find Doors to Library Closed
New York Times 03/30/2016
The New York Times 08/02/2017
Reading for children
08/21/2013
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Learning to Read, With the Help of a Tablet
New York Times 08/21/2013
Librarianâs Love of Books Began in Her Struggles to Read
New York Times 10/15/2013
The Great Gift of Reading Aloud
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015
Long Line at the Library? It’s Story Time Again
New York Times 11/01/2015
The New York Times 08/02/2017
Teaching reading and literacy skills in Mexico's schools- decades of neglect
03/05/2013
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Librarianâs Love of Books Began in Her Struggles to Read
New York Times 10/15/2013
The Great Gift of Reading Aloud
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015
The Country That Stopped Reading
New York Times 03/05/2013
The New York Times 08/02/2017
E-books on iPads and reading to children or toddlers
10/11/2014
If screen time is not good for children under 2 is it ok to use an iPad to read to them. The larger question of reading to children preK and 2-8 when reading skills are developing and interests being formed. The role of parents, libraries and books with the social interaction offered in the library environment as supplemental or well integrated with iPad reading.
Grouped Articles
Is E-Reading to Your Toddler Story Time, or Simply Screen Time?
New York Times 10/11/2014
The Great Gift of Reading Aloud
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015
Long Line at the Library? It’s Story Time Again
New York Times 11/01/2015
The New York Times 08/02/2017
Reading apps
03/26/2013
Grouped Articles
Following the Money With Apple's Apps
Wall Street Journal 04/14/2013
The Great Gift of Reading Aloud
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015
At 17, App Builder Rockets to Riches From Yahoo Deal
Wall Street Journal 03/26/2013
The New York Times 08/02/2017
Reading to children as a family activity
07/15/2015
Grouped Articles
The Great Gift of Reading Aloud
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015
Long Line at the Library? It’s Story Time Again
New York Times 11/01/2015
The New York Times 08/02/2017
Young Latinos and Reading
12/04/2012
Young Hispanic children and the love of reading that broadens the mind and helps the imagination.
Grouped Articles
America's Assimilating Hispanics
Wall Street Journal 06/17/2013
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
Learning to Read, With the Help of a Tablet
New York Times 08/21/2013
Librarianâs Love of Books Began in Her Struggles to Read
New York Times 10/15/2013
Obama Starts Initiative for Young Black Men, Noting His Own Experience
New York Times 02/27/2014
The Great Gift of Reading Aloud
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015
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