This is from today’s NY Times Opinion Page. http://tinyurl.com/aj3ktca
Although the article is about Mexico, it could be about the United Sates. This
is a powerful statement that needs our attention as a nation. We are turning
out generations of dolts who can check boxes on standardized tests and text
like crazy on their so-called smart phones, but they are functionally illiterate.
“We have turned
schools into factories that churn out employees. With no intellectual
challenges, students can advance from one level to the next as long as they
attend class and surrender to their teachers. In this light it is natural that
in secondary school we are training chauffeurs, waiters and dishwashers.”
“This is not just about better funding. Mexico spends more
than 5 percent of its gross
domestic product on education — about the same percentage as the
United States. And it’s not about pedagogical theories and new techniques that
look for shortcuts. The educational machine does not need fine-tuning; it needs
a complete change of direction. It needs to make students read, read and read.”
This does not bode well for the future of our society. As many
of you who read this blog regularly know I am a serial bibliophile. Thank God
my mother encouraged and facilitated me to read. Any success I have had in my
professional life has been due to this. As professionals we need to speak out
and get our leaders to recognize the importance of reading.
NY Times
Op-Ed Contributor
The Country That Stopped Reading
By DAVID TOSCANA
Published: March 5, 2013