5 Comments

1. I think I’m still missing something but…
   How can a “funtional illiterate” write a book?
   ((Sorry…probably just my cold talking. )

   Comment by Annie — October 13, 2005 @ 8:13 pm

2. I suspect alot of dictation. Its the going thing these days with entertainment folk. What I find the most sad about that is that she’s confident enough to ‘write’ a book but does believe she can learn to read.

   Comment by Ron — October 13, 2005 @ 9:36 pm

3. That is mind blowing, isn’t it? What always bugs me and I’m too lazy to go look it up for Detroit is that they try to hit families and tax payers on the other end for public schooling at younger and younger ages. As if the results on the other end (adult literacy rates) show any sort of successes.

   This spring, there was an adult education rally in our state capitol the same day they were having hearings to lower Illinois’ compulsory attendance age down to 5. (Proponents really wanted 3 years of age.) I was thinking: Ummm…look and listen just outside the door here, folks, and check out the success rate of schooling from 7-17 years of age.

   Comment by Susan — October 15, 2005 @ 10:48 am

4. It’s already down to five here, and they slipped that through. They’re pushing for three now.

   What really sickens me is that educrats can “prove” that minorities, the poor, the children from uneducated familes all do so much worse on standardized tests, but take these same children and homeschool them, and not only do a lot of problems disappear, the test scores are right up there with everyone else.

   Not that test scores are important in and of themselves, I’m just not above using them to back my own beliefs.

   Annie, also many books with celebrities listed as the author aren’t actually written by them. It’s not unusual, and it’s one of those open secrets of the publishing industry.

   Also, I think it’s really sad that she (Fantasia) probably thinks there’s something wrong with her, rather than the fact the method she was taught (or not taught as the case may be) and the system itself is more to blame. Not getting the way the teacher lays it out tags you as “stupid” when in fact it is more likely the child in question needs a different method or is not ready. But then their self-esteem takes a beating and many illiterate adults thinks they are incapable of learning to read.

   Comment by Andrea — October 15, 2005 @ 11:05 am

5. [...] In your first question, you asked about the things kids need to know. I think you will find the definition of what they need to know has been debated since the inception of compulsary schooling. The reality is that we live in a changing world. Much of what I needed to know when I was my children’s age, is no longer taught in public schools. One might believe that the basics of reading and writing essential to people in our society. However, given the statistic I wrote about a few months ago, obviously they are not essential. It is of no less consequence that, given that statistic, the system established to educate our society continues to operate without accountability. [...]

   Pingback by Atypical Homeschool.net » Unschooling and the need to know — January 11, 2006 @ 11:59 pm

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