US Education - a Calumny ??

[apple3141]

This article appeared in the Sunday Times of Johannesburg 5 May 02. The Writer is Barry Ronge, a middle-aged, white, english speaking liberal, I consider him to be quite reliable as a columnist. I have cut padding and paraphrased where I felt it was appropriate.

A War On Words: Teachers in the United States are rewarding students for reading bad books.

It comes as something of a shock to learn that many American Schools have had to resort to bribery to force their students to read actual books.

Headmasters and senior teachers ... are delighted by a computer program that allows them to award extra points ... to students who actually read a book from cover to cover and can prove that they have done so... by means of a computerised comprehension test that does not involve the more subtle issues of interpretation or a broader understanding of the issues.

Examples: Oliver Twist murders Bill Sykes in his Sleep - T or F?
Huckleberry Finn falls off the raft and drowns - T or F?

Good scores earn extra academic credits, sweets, movie tickets.

[The author, who regards reading as the great liberator, pans this, at length.]

....I am profoundly unnerved by the idea that we have come to the point where literacy is no longer the key goal and that the main issue is trying to lure literate people into the act of reading....

To make matters worse... here is how these programs are structured. If you read Tom Clancy's Executive Orders you score 78 points. But... Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage merits only 8 points; Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea only earns 4 points.

Clancy and Grisham score the highest ratings ... the real masters of prose like Nobel Laureate Hemingway are relegated to the minor leagues. It is a kind of double insanity to spend huge sums of money on a computer program that is supposed to encourage reading and then to make books that are hardly worth reading the highest goal.

*******

Is this report substantially correct? If it is, are you concerned about it?

In these our present times, it might be better to distribute the greatest rewards to those best able to detect the Bullshit in political writings, from Presidential speeches, down to environmental propaganda. "Ich bin ein Berliner" and all that stuff.

 

[alphacat]

I've not seen any of this

I'm not sure what schools the author is talking about, but my American high school is nothing like that. A lot of the people in my school couldn't care less about reading, but we do actually talk about books, and read actual classics, and are tested on more then the basic plot. (However, a lot of people will read the Cliff Notes instead of reading the books)
I've honestly never understood people who don't enjoy reading.

 

[apple3141]

It's bad enough if people don't read

Alphacat, it is a relief that this approach to education is at least not everywhere in US.
If people do not read, it is their loss. But, there is worse to come. If they do not read, they remain ignorant. If they remain ignorant, they are easy prey for "The Hidden Persuaders".

As you sound like 'A Constant Reader' I can't resist a plug for the World's Best Work of Fiction (my caps) : Thornton Wilder's "Theophilus North". Sadly, out of print, hard to get. I got a second hand paper-back from Amazon.

As CRaZy would say, though, "it ain't erotic".

 

[sch00lteacher]

It is very hard to get a child to read a book in a house that does not have books, or in a house where the parent can not read.

Reading is not something people do for fun and or relaxation any longer. You turn on the TV and cruse through 300 channels. You just have to be able to read what is on.

No teachers should not push 'bad' books on students to get them to read. However a teacher has to find a book that interests the child. Tom Clancy's Executive Orders is an excellent book. I would love for a high school junior or senior to read that cover to cover. There is less controversy in this book than in say Twain's original Tom Sawyer.

If I can spark a life long interest in reading in one of my students by introducing them to science fiction, or action adventure stories, then so be it. It is better than not having the student read at all.

And yes there is a lot of crap out there that I would never recommend for a student. A teacher has to be very well read in order to make recommendations. You need to know what is in the book before you hand it to a student, or suggest the student read it.

 

[apple3141]

What Controversy?

Reading is not something people do for fun and or relaxation any longer. You turn on the TV and cruse through 300 channels. You just have to be able to read what is on.

Not true. Check out the sales of the US publishers. Then remove the sales of cookery books, you still have Gonzo turnover.

Tom Clancy's Executive Orders is an excellent book. I would love for a high school junior or senior to read that cover to cover. There is less controversy in this book than in say Twain's original Tom Sawyer.

Really? You agree to rate Tom Clancy's book at 10 times Mark Twain and 20 times Hemingway? (see my first post) I can only say "Wow!"

What is so controversial about Tom Sawyer? Oh, maybe something to do with the way white Americans, living on the banks of the Great River, treated black Americans, 120 years ago? Surely that is history, not controversy.

The author of the article was thinking that the best way to learn English is to read good authors, who shew us top quality language. For this reason, I would rate Hemingway at about 75, Twain about 90, Tolkein about 110, and of course the King James Bible (Revised version) a solid 150. I would rate Clancy, over generously, at 5.

 

[morninggirl5]

The program that the article is talking about is a commercial program called Accelerated Reader. The "rating" of books is actually a point system that students use to earn rewards for reading.

The point value of a book is based solely on the reading difficulty of the book and the books length. It is a system that is completely frustrating for most teachers (especially those of us who teach younger children) because students have to have a reading ability on at least the 2nd grade level to reap real benefits in their reading skills.

It's one of the programs schools are using to encourage reading. My students love to read, they learned that love for reading from me, because i read to them, with them and listen to them read daily. Unless we are able to find ways to interest all students in reading, we will soon have a generation that is completely aliterate.

The aliteracy (able to read but not doing so) rate in our country is already at 20%. If this program or any other can encourage reading, then i'm willing to try it.

 

[Hamletmaschine]

Re: What Controversy?

. . . The author of the article was thinking that the best way to learn English is to read good authors, who shew us top quality language. . . .

Just a sidenote: Twain used to be controversial, not because of the racial attitudes of his characters, but because he wrote in the vernacular and not in "top quality language."

 

[apple3141]

Clarification - noted and appreciated

Thank you morninggirl.
Now I see how it is supposed to work, and why it is needed. I have to go with you, a good teacher is worth her weight in gold, and is probably a necessary and sufficient condition.

"Aliterate" is a new word for me, it is a good one. But aliterates aren't so new; in England, and now in South Africa, it was and is common to find no books at all in the homes of people who have been schooled to matriculation (? finished high school ?) and beyond. Against that, book clubs, book shops and public libraries thrive.

I wish you every success with your pupils. You are giving them a gift which will last all of their lives, and which they will treasure more and more as they age.

Hamletmaschine, I confess I hadn't considered that Tom Sawyer was written in the vernacular. It was my introduction to American english when I was about 9 or 10. I have read as much American fiction as English, yet still have occasional difficulties. I nearly gave up on "Primary Colors" because I didn't know the meanings of many of the words used. Now THAT is written in the vernacular! I still can't quite picture the type of female called a "muffin", except I am sure that they are nothing at all like Lit.'s very own KillerMuffin.

 

[Closet Desire]

Reading...

...is the most powerful skill I ever learned.

I was insatiable BUT I hated the "classics" and used Cliff notes or quick skimming to get by my English classes. I read whatever I was interested in and I read a lot of it. My senior English teacher despised me so much that she said as much when she signed my year book.

Funny thing about that--I'm the one who ended up with a PhD in English Lit--not her. Ended up writing several books, fiction and non as well as academic papers and still publish about three books a year.

I can safely say that I never properly read a "classic" while in high school and, even today, can't bear many of those that were required reading--Dickens comes to mind--but have read many, many others.

I think it's important to separate reading as a skill from appreciation of literature as an art. I hate Monet and Van Gogh, but do like many others. It doesn't mean I don't like art--only that I have a taste for certain ones.

Back in 1980 I met Isaac Asimov for about a minute when he spoke at the 20th anniversary of NASA at Langley Research Center. I wanted to be a writer and I asked him "what's the best way to become a writer?" He replied with a big smile "read good writing." I hope his stuff was "good" because I read loads of it!

I watched his words unfold with my son--now 19--who was homeschooled. He read heaps of fantasy stuff (hate the stuff myself), wrote poetry and short stories that interested him. Today, his best skills are in language and communication. He is valued at his place of work because he can read quickly and accurately as well as put it down in writing with a clarity that many don't possess.

There are many "good" books out there that will build reading skills and if that is the purpose rather than to develop appreciation for literature as an art then I think it's a good idea. As for awarding points--I'm probably out dated but learning should be its own reward.

 

[freescorfr]

Re: Re: What Controversy?

Just a sidenote: Twain used to be controversial, not because of the racial attitudes of his characters, but because he wrote in the vernacular and not in "top quality language."

I deviate to bring in the British - Dickens' puntucation and grammar would have had KM seething.

Damon Runyan's what I call vernacular.

I don't read books, but I pretend I do, quite well - and that's what I call a first class education.

I read stories and novels, but books I sort of fuck - you know, take them all sorts of different ways. Books are not for reading they're for having as mistresses.

 

[Ishmael]

Re: What Controversy?

Not true. Check out the sales of the US publishers. Then remove the sales of cookery books, you still have Gonzo turnover.



Really? You agree to rate Tom Clancy's book at 10 times Mark Twain and 20 times Hemingway? (see my first post) I can only say "Wow!"

What is so controversial about Tom Sawyer? Oh, maybe something to do with the way white Americans, living on the banks of the Great River, treated black Americans, 120 years ago? Surely that is history, not controversy.

The author of the article was thinking that the best way to learn English is to read good authors, who shew us top quality language. For this reason, I would rate Hemingway at about 75, Twain about 90, Tolkein about 110, and of course the King James Bible (Revised version) a solid 150. I would rate Clancy, over generously, at 5.

I saw no 'relative' rating in SchOOlteacher's post. From where did you infer that from what he had to say?

Ishmael

 

[apple3141]

Re: Re: What Controversy?

I saw no 'relative' rating in SchOOlteacher's post. From where did you infer that from what he had to say?

Ishmael

The ratings are subtle(ish). "Excellent" means the top 2 percentile, while "Controversial" is extremely pejorative in any PC environment, such as the educational establishment. Anything controversial is more or less hors concours.