Learning
Log Entry 3 on "Many Americans Can Read But Can't Comprehend"
This turned out to be a very short article, and it was correspondingly
one of the weakest out of the three that I read. In
particular, it made a lot of assertions without really giving data to
back them. For instance, the article says that "test scores
have risen only modestly or not all", but fails to provide numbers to
back that up, or even any kind of information about how long the
programs had been in place in schools when the measurements were
made. I could go on, but let's just say that this is the kind
of thing that tends to get me upset with what I call "pundit
journalism" - which uses opinions as a substitute for carefully
reported facts and an attempt at balance.
I do agree in general that students who are being taught to read should
be taught using material with meaningful content. Perhaps
there is too much emphasis on "Dick and Jane" type reading past the
early stages of school (I do not know this for a fact since I have not
surveyed the texts - but it may be true). That still leaves
the question of what constitutes meaningful content. The
author uses the Civil War as his example of meaningful
content. But to a room full of Mexican immigrants, might
Cesar Chavez be a more relevant topic? Would readings about
the Aztecs be as meaningful to today's Latin immigrant students as his
example of Don Quixote is to European immigrants?