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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (14391)	8/19/2001 12:54:13 PM
From: Father Terrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 59480

Do not believe NEA or government's spin on illiteracy. It is rampant in the U.S. Functional illiteracy is escalating here and abroad. I shall send you the latest info from the UK where it is also skyrocketing. Like America, Britain has become mired in the philosophy that perception is more important than reality. One of the results of this disease is schools that do not teach effectively, or whose curriculum is not focused on passing on knowledge and the ability to think, but the illusion of critical thinking.

To: Neocon who wrote (14391)	8/19/2001 12:54:49 PM
From: Father Terrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 59480

UK Illiteracy 'Is Worse Now Than In 1912' By Richard Palmer Schoolsnet.com 8-19-1 Illiteracy is higher among young people in Britain now than it was before the First World War, according to new research. Up to 15 per cent of people aged 15 to 21 are functionally illiterate, a study by the University of Ulster has found. By contrast, a report by school inspectors in 1912 said only two per cent were unable to read or write, the researchers said. The study, commissioned from Professor Loreto Todd by the publishing company Bloomsbury, also showed that young people today are over-confident in their spelling abilities. Seven out of 10 believed they were pretty good at getting words right, when asked to spot 14 mistakes in a piece of text. But none of the 15 to 21-year-olds surveyed for the research was able to identify them all. Girls did better than boys, reflecting their better performance in English exams for a few years, but were still unable to highlight more than two-thirds of the errors correctly. Boys only managed to spot 54 per cent of the mistakes. Despite this, men were more likely to rate themselves as excellent spellers than women. The findings suggested that government attempts to improve pupils' basic skills such as literacy and numeracy over the past few years have been less than successful. They also echoed the conclusion of the National Skills Task Force last year that seven million adults were functionally illiterate. The government has promised to spend millions of pounds on improving adult literacy and Prof Todd's study showed young people were aware of the potential damage caused by an inability to spell. Seven out of 10 said poor spellers were seen as "careless, young, immature and unreliable". But despite the general awareness of the importance of literacy among UK youth, the research suggested they were actually getting worse, not better. When presented with the same word spelt slightly differently three times, 90 per cent of 41 to 50-year-olds got the right answer, compared with only 65 per cent of 15 to 30-year-olds. Older people were unimpressed with the current craze for mobile phone text messaging, believing it was harming spelling, with more people in the 41-plus age group saying that than in the 16 to 21 section. However, two thirds of 40-something women said they sent text messages, compared with just a fifth of their male peers. Prof Todd questioned a cross-section of the UK population aged 15 and above for the research. She said: "Being able to spell and recognise words is perhaps more important now than at any time in the past." A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "High levels of literacy are crucial to the economic and social well being of this nation - that's why we have focused on improving reading and writing standards in our schools. "Last year 99 per cent of all 15-year-olds in schools who took GCSE English passed it and have the equivalent of functional literacy or above. "We are also working to raise skills among adults. The new family literacy and numeracy strategy is backed by £10 million and is working to help parents and their children improve their literacy and numeracy skills." schoolsnet.com 0392