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Most US students not literate enough for complex tasks
Daily Times ^ | 1/21/06 | AP

Posted on 01/21/2006 10:26:44 AM PST by voletti

WASHINGTON: More than half of students at four-year colleges in the United States - and at least 75 percent at two-year colleges - lack the literacy to handle complex, real-life tasks such as understanding credit card offers, a study found. The literacy study funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the first to target the skills of graduating students, finds that students fail to lock in key skills - no matter their field of study. The results cut across three types of literacy: analyzing news stories and other prose, understanding documents and having math skills needed for checkbooks or restaurant tips. Without “proficient” skills, or those needed to perform more complex tasks, students fall behind. They cannot interpret a table about exercise and blood pressure, understand the arguments of newspaper editorials, compare credit card offers with different interest rates and annual fees or summarize results of a survey about parental involvement in school. “It is kind of disturbing that a lot of folks are graduating with a degree and they’re not going to be able to do those things,” said Stephane Baldi, the study’s director at the American Institutes for Research, a behavioral and social science research organization. Most students at community colleges and four-year schools showed intermediate skills. That means they can do moderately challenging tasks, such as identifying a location on a map. There was brighter news. Overall, the average literacy of college students is significantly higher than that of adults across the nation. Study leaders said that was encouraging but not surprising, given that the spectrum of adults includes those with much less education.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailytimes.com.pk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chinesestudents; educatedfools; generationy; highereducation; india; literacy
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To: B4Ranch

Take it up with Rummyfan (see post #16). I merely cut and pasted his post in order to respond...


81 posted on 01/21/2006 5:40:42 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: Rummyfan

Please read
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1562298/posts?page=76#76. I mistakenly addressed my question to durasell.


82 posted on 01/21/2006 5:44:28 PM PST by B4Ranch (No expiration date is on the Oath to protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic.)
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To: durasell

Done


83 posted on 01/21/2006 5:44:57 PM PST by B4Ranch (No expiration date is on the Oath to protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic.)
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To: B4Ranch
No problem. Honest mistake.

For the record, I think Rummyfan was using the alternate spelling in a derisive context.
84 posted on 01/21/2006 5:47:03 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: Knute
I think we blame a system that insists on educating people who are uneducable. Half of the people in our school systems are either morons or simply not academically inclined. No shame in the later. We should bring back trade schools. They are the backbone of this country, not a useless liberal arts education (the operative word being "liberal").
85 posted on 01/21/2006 5:53:45 PM PST by N. Beaujon (http://www.nbeaujon.com)
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To: voletti

Considering that 80% of courses in Liberal Arts are pure drivel, is this surprising.


86 posted on 01/21/2006 5:56:06 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (Democrats value the privacy of terrorists higher than the lives of Americans.)
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To: thoughtomator
>>>how many people I know who have completely useless Political Science degrees.<<<

I heard Walter williams, filing in for rush the other day, say that the "Education Department" at universities is the "educational slum" of achedeima. He said it is an acknowldged fact that wtudents with the lowest SAT scores apply to get Ed degrees.

Williams also said that those graduating out of Ed departments seeking to get into law or med school, score the lowest on entrance exams for those graduate schools.

Thats who is teaching our kids today - their tenure protected by union rules. It is virtually impossible to fire even the worst peforming teacher in the public schools.

87 posted on 01/21/2006 5:58:51 PM PST by HardStarboard
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To: asp1
I went to a local community college to take a course or two. What struck me the most was the fact that there were so many remedial courses offered. Our kids graduate from High School and then need classes to bring them up to speed for freshman college courses. There is something really wrong with our public schools.

Fully seventy percent of all freshmen entering community colleges have to take remedial math and/or English classes before they can even think about taking college level courses that will count toward their AA degrees. That figure was per one of my community college professors when I went back to school to finish my prerequisite work for getting into engineering school.

And that was over ten years ago - I can't imagine that percentage is any lower today, and it's probably higher. So now we have colleges teaching kids what they should have learned in K-12, and according to this article, it's more and more up to employers to teach them what they should have learned in college!

But at least we can take pride in the fact that no one can put a condom on a cucumber better than our high school and college "graduates."

88 posted on 01/21/2006 6:10:43 PM PST by CFC__VRWC ("Anytime a liberal squeals in outrage, an angel gets its wings!" - gidget7)
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To: CFC__VRWC

I sent my girls to college to get their AA's because I thought they needed at least the same education I received in high school to be able to compete with the immigrants in todays business world.

Upon reflection I may have made a mistake. They both came out of college as half baked liberals though thankfully they have read and understand the conservative view of the U.S. Constitution, thanks to my wife grilling it into them.

Now for trade schools, either of them could operate a cattle ranch, which is another dying industry, so I'm not quite certain where they stand competitively. Maybe I'll suggest a career in enviro only because they recognize weeds from grasses. The older one could train cutting horses and the younger one could raise varmits, I mean soft cuddly rabbits.


89 posted on 01/21/2006 6:33:04 PM PST by B4Ranch (No expiration date is on the Oath to protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic.)
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To: who knows what evil?
LOL. You're evil!!
90 posted on 01/22/2006 3:13:50 PM PST by Moorings
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To: GSlob

>> I'd say he had a point, especially about educating the ineducable.

Now there's a real issue. The flip side of "no child left behind" is that all too often, "no child gets ahead".


91 posted on 01/22/2006 3:21:36 PM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
Most liberals are educated idiots. As for being intelligent, that is another matter. Have known many with 2 or 3 college degrees that are lucky if they can change a light bulb. They know all the 75 cent words and how to write a nice sounding article that means absolutely nothing. Liberals think others, like me, are uneducated and stupid but I wonder if (God forbid) things get really bad in this country if they could manage to feed themselves and their families. Education is great and I encourage it but diplomas and certificates mean nothing if you are one dimensional.
92 posted on 01/22/2006 3:55:09 PM PST by jerry639
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To: Moorings
LOL. You're evil!! Not really...I just like to herd people into a situation that forces them to use their minds. Maybe they will come to understand how the public schools "short-changed" them on a decent education.
93 posted on 01/22/2006 4:50:08 PM PST by who knows what evil? (New England...the Sodom and Gomorrah of the 21st Century, and they're proud of it!)
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To: FreedomPoster
My daughter who is in her last semester as a grad student comes home with stories of illiteracy in both undergrad and grad students every day. Pathetic to hear some of the things these kids write. We cannot blame the kids, they do not know any better, I blame mom and dad for not being involved in their education. But mom and dad want to blame the "system" for not educating their kids.
94 posted on 01/23/2006 2:58:26 AM PST by SLB ("We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us." C. S. Lewis)
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To: GSlob
That's how it used to be, educational segregation. When I was a lass my public school had separate classes for math and reading, based solely on skill level. In math we went to different classrooms; in reading our regular class was split into colored "zones," again based on skill level. In different areas of the room each zone would pursue goals based on that group's abilities: remedial phonics, reading primers, grade-level textbook stories or SRA cards, advanced texts or trips to the library for extra materials. The advanced group even did weekly sessions with younger grades teaching reading skills.

Sure, there were mild embarassments being part of a particularly low-skill zone, and a bit of pride in being in the top zone, but the beauty of the scheme is that the kids could apply themselves and move into other zones as their skills progressed. Hard work = move up. What a concept, huh?

A decade later there was so much emphasis placed on "feelings" and social skills that pursuit of the three Rs was relegated to a secondary goal. Dumbing down, not building up, became the norm. Sensitivity became more important than ability. Answers became subjective, not definitive. It's no wonder society is in its current state.

(For the record, I homeschool my own kids. I wouldn't send them to public school for a million dollars.)

95 posted on 01/23/2006 4:59:32 AM PST by shezza (18 days)
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To: voletti

http://www.toptechnews.com/news/Many-College-Students-Not-Literate/story.xhtml?story_id=11300BMOVKW9

You might like the students reaction to this study funded by the The Pew Charitable Trusts.

"Jillian Buchan, a UW junior majoring in biology and art, admitted that she might not be able to understand credit card information or handle other financial matters; her parents pay for her tuition and handle most of her finances. "

"I haven't really been forced to learn it yet," she said, while taking a break from studying bioscientific Latin and Greek. "Right now I'm focused on school and studies."


96 posted on 01/23/2006 3:36:30 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
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Comment #97 Removed by Moderator

To: baystaterebel

"A college diploma is not a certificate of higher intellegence. It is only proof of further education."

My British Lit professor called me 'the Jane Eyre expert' and deferred to me any questions she couldn't answer. She did her Masters thesis on Jane Eyre and I only read the book twice. Further education isn't all its cracked up to be.


98 posted on 01/26/2006 7:06:40 AM PST by imskylark
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To: SLB

Even if Mom and Dad want to be involved, there are a lot of things that prevent them from making any impact other than pulling their kid out of that school:

1) The kid gets "good grades" and no indicator arises at an early age that points to a problem. Teachers routinely lie to parents and say things like "They're just slow to start reading and will be just fine in a few years". School administrators are extremely reluctant to make any changes that might get the school in union trouble or cause them any additional work.

2) Kids are up at 6 and out the door by 6:30 or so to get to school, then don't get home from school until 4 or so. They then may have extracurricular activities and/or homework that further sucks up their time. After that they are so tired or need a break that any attempt to "reeducate" the kid doesn't stick/work. John Taylor Gatto once estimated that kids have only 15 hours a week of free time after school, sleeping, TV , meals, and the like are calculated.

3) The parents don't recognize what a good education should be, and so have no frame of reference by which to judge their kids' efforts.

4) Over 20% of kids in a lot of schools are inappropriately referred to special ed for learning disabilities many of us would call "curriculum disabilities" or "disteachia". They are then pushed onto behavioral drugs or psychological counseling, and the parents are fed BS to get them to agree. These kids are thrown away almost before they start to really learn anything.

5) The parents are clueless, being taken up with their own lives more than the well-being of their kids. Or, both parents work such long hours to make a living or attain luxuries that the easiest thing for them is to do whatever the school thinks is best, not what's best for their kids.


99 posted on 01/26/2006 7:11:50 AM PST by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
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To: Bullish

Only 50 years? There was dissatisfaction with the schools back then, too. The Public Schools have never been bastions of acedemic excellence.


100 posted on 01/26/2006 9:23:15 AM PST by Clintonfatigued (Sam Alito Deserves To Be Confirmed)
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