tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post1904609258446486460..comments2024-03-26T04:19:38.862-07:00Comments on kitchen table math, the sequel: when things changed (vocabulary edition)Catherine Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-47950641781591469592012-12-25T05:44:53.282-08:002012-12-25T05:44:53.282-08:00My daughter interned at a Manhattan PR firm during...My daughter interned at a Manhattan PR firm during the summer of 05. Of the 16 interns, she was the only one who was allowed to draft press releases etc; the others, mostly from elite colleges, were not allowed to write anything because their writing skills were so poor. Obviously, their resumes and cover letters were not representative of their abilities! When my kids arrived in college, they finally saw why I had red-pencilled their 1-12 work so religiously. Teachers used to do that, in the old days; now it's up to parents. momof4noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-6472932112188922642012-12-22T18:48:21.587-08:002012-12-22T18:48:21.587-08:00I have the McGuffey readers! The language and gram...I have the McGuffey readers! The language and grammar are FAR more advanced than anything in the schools today...<br /><br />I was thinking.<br /><br />I taught freshman composition years ago at the University of Iowa.<br /><br />I don't remember ever talking about grammar at all.<br /><br />(Of course, I didn't know any grammar to speak of, either, although I could write grammatically.)<br /><br />I don't remember students not being able to write sentences. <br /><br />I wish I still had copies of some of those papers. I remember focusing closely on argument, evidence, etc. <br /><br />Students today, including students at selective colleges, have significant problems at the level of the sentence.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-79826329612199393582012-12-20T14:13:15.816-08:002012-12-20T14:13:15.816-08:00A local museum carries the McGuffey readers in its...A local museum carries the McGuffey readers in its shop. I bought a whole set; they're far better than most of the materials used today (outside of CK, classical etc).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-39660833792388080742012-12-20T10:46:38.931-08:002012-12-20T10:46:38.931-08:00Somehow Homer (Simpson, not ... Homer) was in a cl...Somehow Homer (Simpson, not ... Homer) was in a classroom filled with gifted students. One of them tells him that he is a "learned man". He smiles patronizingly and says something like, "the worded is 'learned', my boy, 'learned'". If you read this correctly it is sort of funny.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-80784054503455257922012-12-20T08:33:00.452-08:002012-12-20T08:33:00.452-08:00"The other day I explained to my very baffled...<i>"The other day I explained to my very baffled students (mostly 9th/10th graders but some 12th too) that 'learned' can be a verb or an adjective and that the phrase 'a learned man' was, in fact, perfectly correct."</i><br /><br />What SES/background/whatever are your students?<br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-45216263027614197462012-12-20T08:31:31.048-08:002012-12-20T08:31:31.048-08:00"That's the period when textbooks started...<i>"That's the period when textbooks started getting dumbed down. There's another study that links the decline in SAT scores with the dumbing down of textbooks"</i><br /><br />You are thinking of this:<br /><br />"Schoolbook simplification and its relation to the decline in SAT-verbal scores" by Hayes and Wolfe.<br /><br />http://www.soc.cornell.edu/hayes-lexical-analysis/schoolbooks/Papers/HayesWolferAndWolf1996.pdf<br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-6113100513825273862012-12-20T07:39:15.491-08:002012-12-20T07:39:15.491-08:00The other day I explained to my very baffled stude...The other day I explained to my very baffled students (mostly 9th/10th graders but some 12th too) that "learned" can be a verb or an adjective and that the phrase "a learned man" was, in fact, perfectly correct. Minds. Blown.<br />MagisterGreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447106786489253060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-89389392059099623752012-12-20T06:16:45.972-08:002012-12-20T06:16:45.972-08:00But, we don't need to provide anything to the...But, we don't need to provide anything to the top kids, because they'll do fine, anyway! That sentiment was around when my FIL started teaching in the 30s and it's still thriving - read the regular whines about the G/T population in the WaPo. Unlike the rest of the world, we spend pennies on the most able and motivated kids for every dollar we spend on the unable &/or unwilling. momof4noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-37657374326264129682012-12-19T18:30:11.706-08:002012-12-19T18:30:11.706-08:00That's the period when textbooks started getti...That's the period when textbooks started getting dumbed down. There's another study that links the decline in SAT scores with the dumbing down of textbooks (maybe Catherine's the one who told me about it?!) Eleventh grade textbooks are now written at a ninth grade level. The other day, one of my students, an eleventh grader, thought "founded" was being used incorrectly in his (very simply written) history textbook because he didn't realize that "to found" could be a verb...SATVerbalTutor.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14362826669168491773noreply@blogger.com