Our Failing Students Are Crippled for Life | Intellectual Takeout"...The men in my classes had committed a variety of crimes.
The majority were incarcerated for drug-related felonies, mostly possession and dealing.
..Despite these differences, these men all shared
one thing in common: they were uneducated....The reasons for their failure in school were
obvious.
They came from families and even
a culture that placed little value on education.- ...On Feb. 1, the Washington Examiner reported that 77 percent of the students in a Baltimore high school were reading at elementary levels.
- Of the 628 students tested, 484 were in this group, including 159 who were only reading at a kindergarten or first-grade level.
- This same article tells us that only 37 percent of high school seniors nationwide might be considered proficient readers.
...If our leaders were serious about racial equality and equal opportunity in America, our schools would teach all our children to read, to write, and to calculate.
These old-fashioned 3Rs—reading, ’riting, and ’rithmatic—remain foundational for any child’s education.
- Anyone possessing those three skills can tackle any subject on the planet—calculus, the history of India, biology, the law.
But a kid from Baltimore or any other place who can’t read the news, decipher a bill, write a resume, or do long division faces a bleak future.
And so does our country...Read all!
