08-25-2009, 03:59 AM
My 2 cents: I believe some of our society's illiteracy is due to the culture of entertainment and the advent of television. I work with many people who can recite the latest Will Farrell movie line-for-line, or know the arcane game statistics and health details of their Fantasy Football players, yet write memos at about the 4th or 5th grade level. They are not stupid people, they simply have never focused their attention on literature. Heaven forbid anybody should read a book for entertainment. My own experience is that the book is always better than the movie.
And I don't think this is a Hawaiian or even American phenomenon. I know large parts of Latin and South America, and Europe, too, which essentially shut down when the FIFA World Cup games are played. And most of the world, even though they may hate Americans, surely love our movie and television industries. Syndicated re-runs of old television shows like "Dallas" are big hits in other parts of the world. Go figure.
I know it's a lot more complicated than just sports and entertainment distracting from a focus on literacy, there are huge impacts from education funding, class size, curriculum, teacher skills, parental involvement, etc. But I think there's a real problem with peer-pressure in schools where it's not "cool" to be smart, to be good at math, to be a reader. The kid who has focused his/her attention on sports and excels in that arena is rewarded with adulation, even awe, by their peers, yet the kid who does really well academically is frequently ostracized as a nerd. Why is that? I don't know how to change that corrosive and destructive part of our culture.
Aloha! ;-)
And I don't think this is a Hawaiian or even American phenomenon. I know large parts of Latin and South America, and Europe, too, which essentially shut down when the FIFA World Cup games are played. And most of the world, even though they may hate Americans, surely love our movie and television industries. Syndicated re-runs of old television shows like "Dallas" are big hits in other parts of the world. Go figure.
I know it's a lot more complicated than just sports and entertainment distracting from a focus on literacy, there are huge impacts from education funding, class size, curriculum, teacher skills, parental involvement, etc. But I think there's a real problem with peer-pressure in schools where it's not "cool" to be smart, to be good at math, to be a reader. The kid who has focused his/her attention on sports and excels in that arena is rewarded with adulation, even awe, by their peers, yet the kid who does really well academically is frequently ostracized as a nerd. Why is that? I don't know how to change that corrosive and destructive part of our culture.
Aloha! ;-)
Aloha! ;-)