No, they aren't. Today's HS students are taking courses so dumbed down that a retarded goat could pass them. However, with the Internet, American Idol, Xbox, and hip-hop crammed into their heads, they don't have the mental capacity to process anything that requires actual thought. And, they haven't been required to actually READ andything since . . . . . . well, BIRTH!!!
Hey, nice to see you again :-).
I was curious about the relevence of grade levels to the real world, so I took an issue that's been bothering me for a while and analyzed it.
I was wondering if the person on the street would be able to comprehend Microsoft's instructions for determing what level of Windows Vista you should buy. I had a feeling the average person could probably not properly read and digest the document below:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/default.mspx?wt_svl=20211a&mg_id=20211b
So, how easy is it to comprehend this information? Lexile gives it a score of 1370. This appears to be a "some college" (above high school graduate) level. See
http://www.lexile.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?view=ed&tabindex=6&tabid=18
The SMOG Readability Index gives me a score of 12.49.
http://www.harrymclaughlin.com/SMOG.htm
So it looks like consistency is pretty high since that's also a post high school reading level.
But it gets worse. What if you want to understand the features of Windows Vista Home Basic and click on the link for it? A snappy 14.05 ("Some College, New York Times" again).
Well, in theory, virtually everyone is going to buy a home computer at some point, and so you would wonder why these materials are created for such a high reading level.
Unfortunately, when you buy a Windows product, you usually wind up having some kind of problem. Like how to get your pictures from your digital camera to your computer. Microsoft's writeup of this:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/924a1b6f-6202-487c-a59b-f7130ce774a41033.mspx
gets a snappy 12.49. So you have to graduate from high school to learn how to move your photos.
How about if you get stuck in "Reduced Functionality Mode"?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925616
13.95. You need some college to read it.
Well, why don't we solve this problem by all switching to Macs? This actually does work. Apple's site for MacOS X Leopard Sneak peek has a snappy 9.9 readability index, or "some high school."
So I would be saying we should all move to Macs, except I'm afraid it takes more than a junior high job to be able to afford one. I know, Macs are comparably priced for PCs when you get the same stuff with them, but people who can't read Microsoft marketing literature are not likely to care; they need entry-level computers.
However, it has to be said that there is a kicker. I, with my obviously way above high school reading skills, could not figure out which version of Windows Vista I should get from the information given on that first page. The smoky generalities on the web site that really tell you next to nothing about the differences.
I wonder what education level you need to get to in order to realize this. Maybe the early high school student who tries to read that page and says nothing but "It's all gobbledygook!" is making a better decision than the post-grad who can understand it and takes it all seriously.
But in the end, it seems like if you want to make sure your computer doesn't get stuck in "Reduced Functionality Mode" (in which the web browser generously lets you navigate to Microsoft's web site and buy a new Windows Vista license), you'd better learn more than most people seem to be learning nowadays.
D