I have no voice and I must scream

[unixronin]

And so will you, after you read this.  ilcylic was right about it.  You want to know why Johnny can't read or write?  Just look at what's happening in our schools.  Then wonder no more.

There's a random post-modern essay generator here.  It generates fully "essay-compliant" output that would in all likelihood be scored highly by automated grading systems like Intellimetric, because they can only look at the structure and grammar of the essay, but can't actually understand the meaning of the text enough to recognize that there ISN'Tany -- that, in fact, it's total random gibberish.

Johnny can't read, write or do math, because Johnny's school administration, Johnny's school board, and Johnny's state board of education can't be bothered to think, if they even know how.

Comments

[radarrider.livejournal.com]

Yet another argument against the state-run, one-size-fits-all education system. Instead of *teaching* kids, it seeks to stamp them out to a single standard, which gets increasingly lower and lower as time goes on to ensure that every students meets it.

Yes, that's a simplification but I think the gist is correct. And I thought it sounded cool. :)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yup. That's exactly what's going on. When improving performance fails, lower the standard. :p

[jmkelly.livejournal.com]

I coach eighth-graders (14-year-olds) with their writing about every other week, and from what I see things may not be as good as we'd like, but the situation is not as apocalyptic as this. It's true that teachers frequently use paint-by-number instructions for essay-writing assignments. But it's not because they're all idiots (only some are), it's because they're dealing with so many aliterate kids, and I don't mean kids who can't read or write--I mean kids who don't read or write unless it's for school. Why should they? In many cases, their parents don't either.

When I was a kid, we had issues of the Saturday Review and the Atlantic Monthly lying around the house. I had models to look at, styles to emulate. Many of today's schoolkids are starting from scratch. For them, paint-by-number essays are the only first step they can do.