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You left out doing away with text messaging, and killing all internet
activities, including email, as well as keeping mom home full-time to take
care of the kids (I know I'm going to get yelled at for that one) 8^)
I grew up in the 60's, myself. Needed a book? Walked to the library a mile
away. TV? Only shows I really liked to watch were Chiller Theater and the
Outer Limits, which aired once a week on one of our six available TV
channels (R.I.P. Zachary & Soupy Sales). Funtime activities: catching bees
(and getting stung doing so) in recycled jam jars, climbing trees and
everything else, getting stuck in empty trash cans, and exploring our town's
sewer system with naught but a candle and matches for light.
What really got me interested in reading? Back in oh, I think '61 or so
(2nd grade?), at a school book fair, I bought a book containing a collection
of sci-fi stories. Couldn't really grasp its content yet, but it had a neat
picture on the front cover. There was one story in particular in that book
that kept peaking my interest, and during the next few years, I would return
to it again and again. I think it was fifth grade or so when I was finally
able to read that story from first to last page and more or less understand
it. The story: "The Hobbyist," by Eric Frank Russell. Blew me away and
turned me into an avid sci-fi reader and writer (and consumer). You don't
want to know how many times I've read Clarke's "2001" and watched Kubrick's
and Clarke's movie version of it after it was released.
But we live in a whole different world today, a world of changing norms and
values (whether for good or bad). Elkind's "The Hurried Child" is far more
the case than not today and as a number of us have experienced in some way
or another, extends itself to the "hurried family." Some have managed to
work around their hurried lifestysles and still provide quality care to
their children, others not, and it reflects. Toss in today's access to what
the Information Age has brought about--with its varying impacts on
developing minds--and it takes truly dedicated and determined folks to
ensure the kids they have charge of move in the right direction. Still...
I think one of most important keys still lays in continuous inspiration,
inspiring to do the right thing at the right time, teaching to differentiate
how today's tools can be used to properly get ahead. Can be a tough,
seeming insurmountable hurdle for a number of people, but it can be done.
Now back to tech-writing ;^)
jan cohen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Condo, Candis" <ccondo -at- c-cor -dot- com>
To: "Ned Bedinger" <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>; "Peter Gold"
<peter -at- knowhowpro -dot- com>
Cc: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2007 4:43 PM
Subject: RE: Commnicating with an audience of low literacy levels
> Hmmmm. Back in the dark ages when I was in a grade school, we learned to
> read by reading. Fancy that. I walked to a library (no, my parents did not
> drive me there; my mother did not drive, my father traveled) and I
> borrowed books. I then took them home and read them. There were not a lot
> of books in my home. My parents were not avid readers but I read as did
> all my five sibs. Librarians took an interest in us and we all love to
> read to this day.
>
> So what's the secret? Turn off the TV. Turn off the video games. Pick up a
> book and read.
>
> Candis L Condo
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: techwr-l-bounces+ccondo=c-cor -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com on behalf of
> Ned Bedinger
> Sent: Sat 5/12/2007 1:12 PM
> To: Peter Gold
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Commnicating with an audience of low literacy levels
>
>
>
>
>>
>>> Any time anybody has
>>> spare books after their garage sale (or before), the
>>> nearest prison will gladly accept them as a donation.
>>> Spare time spent with inmates as a Literacy Volunteer can
>>> improve a life and make society better.
>>>
>>
>> Yes, but informed proactive policies and well-funded training
>> for teachers and administrators in elementary, middle, and
>> high schools can help to reduce the acts that lead to
>> imprisonment, for less cost, and with better outcomes for
>> everyone.
>
> I think the OP's suggestion, that tech writers experience first-hand the
> problems and rewards of tutoring the illiterate, and aiming for the
> standard of 6th Grade Reading Level, has the seeds of a solution to many
> problems.
>
> After years of reading and discussion, I don't believe that anyone knows
> how to fix US schools. More than half of my local high school's senior
> class (of 1000+) last year didn't qualify for graduation, and that is an
> awfully big deliverable blown.
>
> So sorry, but face up to it, you can't fix that with policies, training,
> and money. Leading education thinkers all advise home school. If you are
> concerned about the problem of the schools but aren't the parent of a
> school-aged child, I'm sure you could find some place to teach reading
> skills, instead of waiting around for pie-in-the-sky funding and the
> short bus to come around and pick up all the ones who fell through the
> cracks on the last round.
>
> Ned Bedinger
> doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com
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