T
tomnackid
Guest
100 years ago "functional literacy" was defined as the ability to sign ones name. 50 years ago it was the ability to read a newspaper. Today it is the ability to read AND write on a level that would have astonished most of the "regular" people in our grandparents generation. The problem is that jaded, dispirited old farts disregard WHAT kids today read and write and totally ignore HOW MUCH and at WHAT LEVEL. Whenever I point out to an English professor friend of mine the incontrovertible fact that the internet is responsible for more kids reading and (more importantly in my opinion) writing more than at any time in history he always responds with "Yeah but that's not REAL reading and writing." In other words, "reading and writing on the internet didn't exist when I was growing up so it obviously is inconsequential." People had similar attitudes in the past. "Writing on a word processor can never be as good as writing on a typewriter". "Writing on a typewriter can never equal writing by hand." "Writing for the stage is not REAL writing like writing a novel is." Yadda, yadda, yadda. Old farts (and some not so old farts) are good at trying to spoil things for everyone.