Ran across this article last night.  A bit disturbing how some folks are viewing the way our education system is going, thinking that everything is okay when it’s not. Take note of some of the comments made from Eliot Weinbaum, an Ivy League grad working on Obama policy for our public education system.

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/feature-is-it-just-us-or-are-kids-getting-really-stupid/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WguQh-Ao850

A comment below from my girlfriend, Rosemary Laberee.

“I just viewed the UTube video.  He strikes me as someone who is entirely submerged in the present system and married to the “institution of public education” (which is broken beyond description, IMHO)     I’m underwhelmed – too much institutional rhetoric for me, LOL !  I  read the article; I remember seeing this when it first came out.  What he has to say about reading is appalling.  He’s just wrong.  Kids ARE reading less and it is reflected in the ALL TIME LOW Critical Reading scores on the SATs.  

The fact that they can look at their iPhones for dates, etc., doesn’t mean that they do.  News flash:  They don’t.

 People do not like the SATs and all of the other measures of intelligence out there but here’s the thing:  the SAT scores are actually VERY good predictors of a students ability to succeed in college.  Translation:  the kids with low scores who go to college generally do not cut it and the kids with high scores who go to college do very well.  Moral of the story:  If a kid does not read, comprehension plummets.  SAT scores in that area are low.  Performance in college is poor.  

Reading hard stuff ….sticking to it longer than the time it takes to switch from one website to another (!) …. really, really matters.  

I think Weinbaum is way off base.”