[Osx-nutters] Writing Off Reading

[Patrick Coskren]

On Aug 22, 2006, at 6:25 PM, Guy Hammond wrote:

> Patrick Coskren wrote:
>>
>> I wonder, though.  The older generation has *always* said this  
>> about the younger (in part because there have always been, and  
>> always will be, idiots to point to).  These days, wiith more kids  
>> going to college, who's to say it's not just a matter of kids  
>> getting into some college somewhere who once would have stopped  
>> with a high school education?  Or just a function of the fact that  
>> there are *always* kids who skirt the system to get good grades:  
>> star athletes, willing cheerleaders, wealthy scions.   Sure, these  
>> are all anecdotal points unsupported by any actual evidence, but  
>> so's the original article, and hey, it got him published in the  
>> Washington Post.
>
> I don't seem to recall universities needing to teach remedial  
> classes in the 3Rs back in my day.

Perhaps you're older than me (which wouldn't be that hard).  In '91,  
when I arrived fresh-faced at college (a pretty prestigious  
university, too, where you'd expect people would arrive knowing their  
stuff), just such a class was offered, and not solely for the foreign  
students who might not have had that much exposure to English.  To  
tell the truth, I didn't know that many people who took it, although  
I can think of one or two who should have.  I agree with Jeff that  
even a small amount of training could make a big difference.

At any rate, there's still the fact that more people are getting  
college degrees today.  Either more people are getting smart enough  
to go, or more dumb people are going.  Sadly, I know which of the two  
is more likely.  But it doesn't mean that students on average are  
getting any dumber, just that you're increasing the sample size.

Just to be clear, I'm not asserting education today is not worse  
than, say, 20 years ago.  I'm just saying I don't think the assertion  
that it *is* worse was remotely established by the article.  It's a  
slippery problem to analyze.

-Patrick