Do you ever think that most of the country has no reading comprehension

skills?

I sometimes wonder. I have seen my share of loopy responses to op-eds, articles and so on in newspapers. I have also seen threads, in GD for example, where people will post a reply to the OP and it makes no sense whatsoever.

Maybe our public schools truly do suck? Maybe the lovely controlling box we call the "television" has watered down the serious reader pool or something. I do not know.

But it is alarming to me how people cannot comprehend the content of a simple paragraph.

react to something, and freak out about it, and the ONLY thing they're actually upset about is the fact that they misunderstood or oversimplified in their OWN minds what they read.

the worst are the Letters to the Editor in a local op-ed paper. Somebody will make some kind of crazy, foaming-mouthed argument about something that was never said in the column or editorial in question. I'll read that and think "WTF?" And, it doesn't matter whether I would normally agree with the person writing the LTTE either, because they just made a point about something that was never said, haha.

I have had co-workers flip out over something I supposedly did - except that I did not do what they thought I did. Sometimes what they are responding to is their own dislike of somebody and thus they assume certain actions or messages (or look for or expect them) and are just waiting to say 'ah ha!'

Plus, there is alot of sarcasm here, and one line comments that are not clear in their intent. An 'lol' could mean 'you are funny' or it could mean 'you are a joke'.

with you wholeheartedly. Some posts truly make me C&G. IAE it seems like GMTA here, if you KWIM. Unfortunately there’s NADT we can do about this issue. OTTOMH I could probably list several posts that have thoroughly annoyed me, and some had me SWL. Your observation about lack of education may just be a WAG, but AFAIK, I think you’re on the right track. OTOH maybe there’s just far too much text messaging, that writing and comprehension is a lost art.

73

TTYL! :)

BEG . . .

B4N

it might be a tactic -- replying to the strawman that is easily torn down. I see that with a lot of RW response to more liberal Opeds in my own hometown newspaper.

As far as reading comprehension, I think it really is a problem. I don't know if it's due to television, where you don't have to work to understand anything -- it's just sort of thrown at you and if you miss it, who cares or if it's caused by something else. I think we are under constant assault from too much information in a lot of ways and we don't have the time or skills to really concentrate on one of thing or give that thing our undivided attention. I think there's part of our culture that expects us to constantly mutli-task and our brains get pulled in a million different directions, thus making true comprehension difficult to attain. I know that I come up with some of my best ideas (ok, admittedly that's not saying much) after a period of what most would call "vegging out" or doing nothing. But there's a brain at work, even if it's below the surface. I think too many people just let the world go by because things are moving too quickly and they don't feel they have the time or see the need to stop and actually think.

I don't have a problem with reading comprehension, but I am constantly bombarded with so many things all the time that I forget stuff that people tell me. I can only concentrate on so much you know? Like I can retain nearly everything I read, yet when my brother tells me something and then refers to the same topic a week later I won't remember a damn thing he told me from before, haha.

sorry to say that, but our public schools are geared to unleash people ready for a consumerist lifestyle upon graduation they will be ready for. Capitalism doesn't work with a populace that is responsible for itself in spending habits, etc...

I mean, what would happen to the economy if everyone lived like I do?

- NEVER buys clothing from anywhere but the Army, the Salvation Army
- Grows as much food as he can by himself. Buys other foods in bulk (rice, taters, pasta, beans, etc...) so that the lone grocery items I have to buy are meats (buy chickens whole when Kroger has them on sale for .59 cents a pound
- Almost never watches television or listens to radio

Ever wonder how they (public schools) could make the most fascinating subjects incredibly dull? Don't think this isn't by design.

Speaking as a former high school all-star football player who saw the light on the road to Democrastus.

used to be a serious athlete. I was always a Dem, but pretty oblivious to lots of stuff.

If and when I get my own backyard I am growing some food! I do buy some things in bulk, I need to to more though. :)

but defensive end was where I shined. I wrestled to stay in shape for the pigskin season.

Met a good buddy at an all-star football game I played in. Matt Lindley from Eaton, Ohio. Won a Big-10 heavyweight wrestling title for purdue weighing in just a tad over 200 lbs. Talk about taking an ass-kicking on the mat, by Matt. Whew...

you improve your skills for another sport for sure. Conditioning, explosiveness, dedication etc. I was a more serious bullrider than a wrestler at first, then I ended up getting more into wrestling after a bit.

Oh gosh, I know a few guys who wrestled in the Big Ten. Those guys are so tough. Unbelievable. One of my friends, a teammate when we went on an all-star trip to Bulgaria, ended up winning two Big Ten titles with Minnesota. Brandon Eggum was his name, he also took second in the 2001 Worlds. That dude was unbelievable. Sadly, he was at the same weight as Cael Sanderson, so he never won an NCAA title or went to the Olympics. People do not fully grasp how good a top caliber NCAA athlete is, those guys dole out beatings to people who are some of the toughest of the tough too. I've seen it. Just a whole different level. :)

I was the one of the top athletes in my graduating class of 400, and I was a complete fish when it came to wrestling Matt, and he was my size too. An ass-kicing I'll never forget. Strongest sonofabitch pound for pound I've ever been around.

The conditioning I endured during wrestling also has served me well in life. The military was EASY, and a lot more of the physical challenges I've run into were made easy by what I went through in wrestling.

but you were the person I just added on myspace. :) I just saw the "Drexel" link in your message.

Oh yeah, I think after cutting weight and conditioning for wrestling, almost anything physical is pretty easy. I was insane, I used to run in blizzards and stuff. It would be like wayyyy below zero and I would go run. I used to go out in snowdrifts and put fenceposts over my shoulders too. My little brothers would tease me about being like Rocky Balboa, haha. I'm a wuss nowadays though, at least in terms of doing cardio, still pretty solid in the weightroom.

I read Kurt Angle's bio, the training regimen that guy put himself through. It was insane. He did things I never even thought about doing and I thought I was hardcore.

than from the early drexel days.

...perhaps they didn't bother to read the whole article/book/op-ed/etc. That's what happens when a lot of protests (like The Da Vinci Code, or Life of Brian, etc.) are organized against so-called blasphemous media. :eyes:

people often make assumptions without even reading something all the way through if at all. Good point.

but, yes you're correct there appears to be a sharp drop off in comprehension.

Maybe some writers can't comprehend too well either? :)

:spank: :rofl:

You clearly called me a "YOU." :)

Actually I didn't necessarily mean anybody in particular just a general trend. :)

I know, that is why I was laughing and it seemed a perfect opportunity to spank you as well.:evilgrin:

whether the opportunity is there or not, you have a free pass! :)

and it's not a public school thing. I think people are predisposed to pick up certain things quickly (such as fearful stimuli). It's natural to pick up on a few things and ignore the rest of the article.

people will just get an idea in their head and no matter what is said they are going to make their point anyway, haha. So yeah, I can definitely see that. :)

like you mention here...somebody could get hurt, and you'll break the TV.

maybe if I touch this wire... :)

If replies in GD make no sense, that could be due to your own reading comprehension. At the very least it points not to the poster's lack of reading comprehension, but to their inability to write clearly.

Do our public schools suck? Does anybody deny this? A huge part of the problem there, however, is not with the schools themselves, but with the students and the parents.

It is hard to conclude that 'most' have 'no' reading comprehension skills simply based on some writing which you are calling 'loopy'. What does that mean? Does it mean they clearly did not understand the article they are responding to, or does it mean they have some wacky ideas of their own?

Alot of readers are reading between the lines, because much of what is written cannot be taken at face value - people are looking for the spin points or worldviews beneath what was written. And sometimes respondents or readers have more knowledge than some of the professional writers. It may seem loopy because LTTE writers do not get as much column space to fully explicate their ideas.

damn near perfect, so that can't be it. :)

Oh you cannot tell me you haven't read an LTTE or a reply to an OP that criticized something that was not said or was completely wrong about an argument. It always happens.

I am not concluding anything. I made a wondrous statement because this is the Lounge, I never said it was all fact or anything.

But as I said.. reading comprehension, it just seems to be not that good nowadays.

BTW, nice use of the word "explicate" I may have to toss that into the vocabulary. :)

I was making a joke with "what on earth are you talking about?" indicating that I had not comprehended what you wrote in your OP. So I need an "ah ha!" smiley. Maybe this. :o

You seem to be sticking to the conclusion of your wondrous statement, as you say 'it seems' and 'it always happens'.

But the glass is never all empty or all full, so lots of things 'always happen'. So how many LTTEs or replys to OPs "that criticized something that was not said or was completely wrong about an argument" do I need to see before I can say, or wonder, if reading comprehension is not that good nowadays. One out of 50, one out of 20, or one out of 5? I wonder if people like to focus on the negative even if it is a small minority.

What is the count on this thread? 5 yeahs to 1 nay, or 15 to one?

Not fair!

Maybe I should have read your post all the way through. :)

You know, I think often the negative, even if it is a small minority, has a way of manifesting itself. "It seems" like the minority can often be a magnet for focus. :)

Most of them are lacking the proper funds, passionate teachers, parents who care about their kids' education, an administration who cares more about the kids than about politics, etc. I could go on and on.

Which is why it surprised me that SAT and ACT scores are improving, albeit at an agonizingly slow rate, but improving nonetheless.

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeat_lessons20010829

It doesn't seem this way when I see the incoming freshmen students at my school. Most of them have never read anything they weren't forced to read, and can barely write a proper sentence at all.

But there are issues with SAT scores being misleading anyway.

http://www.america-tomorrow.com/bracey/EDDRA/EDDRA30.htm

:)

Oh I know some who are English or Creative Writing majors and some of the stuff they write isn't all that good, in terms of structure and so forth. I think lots of people who want to write, just like to write, but they do not read all that much, and it shows.

reading comprehension skills. :D

:)

Hmm....I've been to a pool recently. It was nice. Had alot of chlorine in it, though.

But it had girls in bikinis. That was good.





Sorry if I didn't catch your point. I just skimmed your post.





Ooooh, look. Something shiny!

:)

It's a sad, sad state we're collectively in.

because two out of three ain't bad."

Why are you being so negative? Don't you know it's mourning in America? Alonzo said so.


Alonzo Mourning that is, in case you haven't heard of the NBA all star
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/alonzo_mourning/index.html?nav=page

I mean, this is the age of the internets, and kids are learning more than ever on computers. It is "an amazing age. It is the age of fosamax."

Oops.

http://www.levinlaw.com/PracticeAreas/fosamax_bone_death_jaw.asp

fosamax sounds like a real nightmare

thanks for more reasons to be sad