On the Subject of this Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mwilbert
I disagree. If her child couldn't read at all, she would have to be pretty oblivious not to notice it. But if you can read at a third-grade level, you can read well enough to handle the usual tasks a child needs to do outside of school. If the child wasn't inclined to do outside reading, how would you know that they were bad at it except via school reports? So if the school passes them along grade by grade, how do you know they haven't learned anything, particularly if you don't know anything either.
Precisely. Look at this excerpt from a letter a 7th-grader wrote to Governor Snyder, per the article: "My name is Quemtin . . . and you can make the school gooder by geting people that will do the jod that is pay for get a football tame for the kinds mybe a baksball tamoe get a other jamtacher for the school get a lot of tacher."
This kid Quentin [[sic!) obviously does not reside in a household where he is frequently pressed to parse and then evaluate the arguments presented by Messieurs Krugman and Brooks on some subject matter they disagree about [[I don't know...Citizens United or some such?) in the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times. I dare say that, seeing as how it is no longer published, the family study is likely to remain deprived of the complete Encyclopedia Britannica.
He probably comes from a long line of Quentins. It is a realistic possibility for his parents not to have much of a clue about anything having to do with any of that. To play Devil's Advocate for a moment, they can't really much help that.
Assuming, however, that we have now agreed to blame Quentin's parents, perhaps we choose to find them unfit, and remove him from their care. Or perhaps we find it beside the point to lay blame, and proceed to do so for pragmatic reasons. Either way, with luck, he will be placed with some other folks who not only press him for his opinion on the discussion between Krugman and Brooks, but did wisely foresee this day and purchase the complete Encyclopedia Brittanica when they had the opportunity. All's well.
Good luck with that. Liberals will surely detest the idea, call it racist, and some well-informed members may point to similar experiments in Australia in decades past that the Prime Minister in recent memory apologized for. Conservatives, meanwhile, are certain to find it off-putting, as it is hard to imagine a more invasive act of government activism. Hmm... the Greens, mayhaps? Closeted racists? Now there's a workable coalition.
For anyone seeking to solve this persistent problem - our society, say - schools are quite likely the path of least resistance, at least at first glance. Assuming we can get past the blame game, just for long enough to act. Thereafter, we can resume placing blame to everyone's content.