Literacy is so 20th century (4 Dec, 2019)

[aardvark_admin]

This column is archived at: https://aardvark.co.nz/daily/2019/1204.shtml

Does it really matter that our levels of literacy are in decline?

Surely the move towards non-written media formats absolves us of the need to have a large written vocabulary or the ability to express our thoughts accurately and precisely in written form?

Might it be that eventualy we'll have come full-circle, such that the ability to read and write becomes the sole preserve of a tiny few within our society?

What are your thoughts on the continued decline of our educational performance?

[hagfish]

My feeling is that kids today are reading and writing more than ever; reading from Instagram, and writing (at 60wpm) with their thumbs. They are creating and consuming their own 'content', rather than leafing through the broadsheet dailies of olde. The SnapChat/TikTok argot gets amplified to the extent that it's unintelligible to the likes of you and me - they're moulding and developing language day by day. It's us that are being left behind; it's a feature.

When I look at the YouTube videos my kids are watching - they're way more compelling and interesting than the pointless crap I watched on TV at that age. In fact YouTube has completely supplanted broadcast TV in our household. Twitter/Reddit have replaced newspapers, and instead of the radio we have podcasts. Books still hold their own.

I do wonder if humanity is going through an evolutionary radiation at present - since selective pressure has relaxed over the past few generations - but that's another matter entirely.

[Necrotic Kingdom]

I am a teacher and my first question is about the data itself. Is this showing an actual decline in ability or just a shift in relative rankings? If you make a list then someone has to be at the top and someone at the bottom.

[Perry]

Of course I have no idea... I'm just a grumpy old man speculating from a position that is extremely detached from the reality of it all.

From another grumpy old man . . .
No one seems to want to give much / any weight to all the dubious changes foisted on teachers and schools, over the decades. The burden on teachers is such that they must be mad or extremely dedicated to pursue such a politically-knobbled profession, nowadays.

Funeral Needed?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/11 ... d-laziness

[Necrotic Kingdom]

Can we be mad and dedicated?
Here's one of my favourites:
https://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc

Seriously though, my son is in an accelerate class at his school and they are working a year ahead. When they finish school a year early they have a choice between doing extra subjects that they didn't have time for the first time or to do university papers at school. So its not all about equality of outcome. Remember that in any set half of the members will be below average and half will be above.

[Perry]

Are you suggesting that there's an option?

As in
opt-in?
or
opt-out?
or
either?
or
both?

I'll leave the choice to you.

My best take on it is expressed - yes, I am enamoured of comedians* - is here, by George Carlin.

Footnote 1
* Comedians, satirists, cartoonists and lampoonists can get away with / express things which likely make others cringe.

Footnote 2
No matter that I failed to appreciate it at the time, [of course!] I remember - almost indelibly - and almost all of the teachers who made a big difference in my later life.

Including Night School tutors like my welding and machining 'instructor.' (Bill Nicholls)