Books reviews, current events, and other musings

 
There’s an educational concern that I wasn’t familiar with: students who know how to read but cannot learn abstractions through reading (from Plastic).

Most of us, when we hear about illiteracy, tend to think of it in its old-fashioned sense — the inability to so much as read a word. In fact, that has become extremely rare in the United States. When you talk to high school teachers, you'll mostly hear about a different kind of illiteracy, but one that's just as dramatic in its own way. The kids in the back row can read the words, but not the content.

For the most part, these kids have made it to the third- or fourth-grade level, or maybe even a bit beyond. They can handle children's fiction and simple narrative.
…
The typical American high school curriculum assumes that kids are able to take in new knowledge independently by reading. But something like three quarters can't, at least not at any useful level.

Of course, categorizing people as literate or illiterate is a massive oversimplification. Still, American society -- schools and parents -- focuses much more on teaching basic literacy than on subsequently improving reading comprehension. Complacency sets in once the child can read, as though further progress will happen automatically.

I wonder how to address this issue. Unfortunately, the portion of the article discussing solutions isn’t available online. Worthwhile reading requires a lot of discipline and focus, qualities that most teenagers tend to lack. How can schools motivate the majority of students who aren’t already inclined to read on their own? Teachers and researchers presumably have some productive ideas.
posted by Julian at 9:38 PM

 
There's a tasteless on-line game called New York Defender. In it, you shoot down airliners that are headed towards the World Trade Center. The planes arrive with increasing frequency. Eventually, enough airliners hit the WTC and the towers collapase. In the end, you can't win the war against terrorism. Not surprisingly, the site is French or Quebecois. (from Ghost in the Machine)
posted by Julian at 5:43 PM