Comments on: Study: Americans Reading A Lot Less

Reading Skills On The Decline Across Almost All Education Levels, Government Report Says

[seven_pesos]

i have a list of 147 republican pedophiles and homosexuals that have been busted since bush took office.

among them are ted haggard, jimmy swaggart, senator craig, and tom foley...

this is just a partial list.

does anybody care to see the whole list?

republicans and family value christians...

ha,ha,ha.

better keep an eye on your children when there''s a republican christian around.

ha,ha,ha.

[b-easy63]

don''''''''t know where you live that schoolteachers make only 28,000 - maybe rural South Dakota?
Posted by onsteroids1 at 12:28 PM : Nov 19, 2007

In many small towns across America, teachers start at 23K to 28K per year and many do not get much of a raise. 3 places that I know of some towns in : Indiana, Iowa and Missouri. Also, in Iowa, RNs start at 13.00/hour, with no benefits.

Just because teachers make a certain amount in the CITY you live in does not mean that is what teachers make. The salary for teachers come from property taxes. The less people in a town, the less they have to pay the teachers. The poorer the city, the less they can collect in taxes so the less they pay teachers, EMTs, etc. (In many parts of Iowa an EMT is a volunteer job with no pay as are some fire dept. jobs)

[abdoul_pasha]

I think that people must balance between the work and the leisure activities, you cannot only work

[b-easy63]

What the heck does cause and effect got to do with the separation of church and state?
Posted by onsteroids1 at 12:11 PM : Nov 19, 2007

don''t know what side of the issue the lady was on. But understand that Churches used to be like the Taliban and run the world. Only those in Church and royalty made money. Only those in those 2 groups could read or write. if a regular person wanted to write a letter or read something, he took it to someone in the church and had to pay them to read or write for them. The church ruled by saying everything against what they wanted was a sin and they punished for it--they tortured, murdered, had wars started, etc. Everything was tied to God, the Church was never wrong, and anyone who opposed the Church could be hunted down and killed. Corruption was rife. Cause and effect could mean what we are seeing: When the religious right got involved in politics, we veered toward forcing people to follow a certain groups version of the world. This had led to war and deep divisions in this country. If it were to continue and there was no separation to reign churches in, we would end up back like we were in the middle ages, with many corrupt Churches dictating all behavior and death and persecution for any who did not follow their rules. The "Cause would be the failure to keep Churches out of politics. The "effect" would be the oppression and enslavement of the rest of humanity to whatever THAT church government believed.

[b-easy63]

The schoolteachers tell us they will start teaching the kids if we throw more money at them. Posted by vancouverboo at 11:39 AM : Nov 19, 2007

because we FAILED to throw money at the actual people who teach our kids. We threw money at education programs ans systems. Over half that money is eaten up by administration (superintendents, secretaries, law enforcement, counselors, psychologists, etc.) another the other half goes to equipment, (new sports fields, lab equipment, lockers, balls, bats, swimming pools, computers, etc) The teachers rarely get much of a hike and when it comes it is not from money from the Federal government it is from a raise in property taxes. Even then, much goes again to those other services. For what they do, teachers are woefully underpaid--we don''t put our money where our mouth is. We can say that education is the most important thing, but honestly our value system indicates, acting, athletic ability, a great voice or a devious talker (politician) is really where the money is at.

it''s why kids by and large want to be rock stars, sports players or actors. Kids aren''t stupid they see who gets away with everything and who has the money in this country you don''t need to read to do any of that either--and Bush has proven, you don''t need to be literate, articulate or smart to be President.

[b-easy63]

You reap what you sew.

Posted by lochlan at 02:01 PM : Nov 19, 2007

"SOW" not SEW--"sow" as in planting seeds for crops.

[b-easy63]

Republicans have short easy answers to all our problems and America is currently getting sick of it.
Democrats seem to look closer at the questions, lets hope they come up with a few viable answers for a change.
Posted by ianlou at 11:20 AM : Nov 19, 2007

(the first part was really funny in your other post). But for the last here is truth: Republicans have short easy answers to all our problems and America is currently getting sick of it.
Democrats seem to look closer at the questions, then see what the Republicans and Bush want. If the alternative appears too controversial, then they just stick with the Republican plan and hope no one notices that they are in charge now. (ie., renewal of the patriot act, sanctioned torture, sanctioned immunity war crimes law, sanctioned Bush taking over the National Guard, Sanctioned more funds going to Iraq with no strings attached)

but Dems DO know how to react and vote on what an org says about a general and also to take a closer look at hip hop--the 2 most pressing issues facing America right now.



Posted by ianlou at 11:20 AM : Nov 19, 2007

[abdoul_pasha]

However, this is not the best variant.

[standlee5]

It''s great that people working 7days a week stillhave time to read. Many don''t. They''re volunteering time, raising kids, running side businesses. Americans are productive. I don''t know anyone who has time for anything these days. They''re working longer and harder just to make ends meet.

[seven_pesos]

bush represents red state america...

the south and midwest are bush loving states.

red state republicans and family moral christians think just like bush.

if those republicans can, they will vote for another republican just like bush.

shame!...what a shame.

republicans and christians...bush''s kind of people!

[abdoul_pasha]

GURUknows, I couldnot understand the purpose of the clip. Anyway, I think that this is more wide-spread among the young people and the mold people mread books. In my country, my generation also reads more books than the generation of my son.

[denn034]

Less available time to read is the most likely culprit for this.

[ckcool192001]

I work seven days a week and have plenty of time to read. I like to read a chapter or two before going to sleep to relax.

I do agree with one person here though. Most recently the Harry Potter series were a source of contriversy in some of the local schools. There were parents that wanted the books removed based on their beliefs that the books taught devil worshiping, wizardry, etc. I would like to point out when asked, these parents hadn''t taken the time to read the book for themselves, they were simply judging a book by it''s cover.

Parents should keep an eye on what their children are reading but shouldn''t discourage them from reading books. Parents like the one I mentioned above shouldn''t try to remove the books from the schools simply because she doesn''t agree with them, why remove books that other parents may have no problem with their children reading? The parent above simply needed to forbid her children from reading the books and let other parents in the district govern what their own children read.

Children will read if it is encouraged. If children live in a house hold where they are allowed to play video games or watch TV as much as they like...chances are these kids will not read. However, if a child is in a household where video games and TV is limited, the children will look for other things to do, which is when you offer the children a book.

[abdoul_pasha]

I work 6 days per week and I have time for reading, too.

[ianlou]

My love for reading may be based on my upbringing; As a kid, my parents would say "don''t watch that", "Don''t look at that", "Don''t do that", "What can you do? You can read anything you want", and I did.

[ianlou]

You would think that the current crop of rebellious youth would be curious why Alabama is "removing" books from certain authors from school libraries. Banned books where at the top of my reading list when I was a kid.

Learning to write well in this day and age requires a good word processor. Like most people who have a computer, they elect not to purchase one. :)

[standlee5]

Because we''re working our azzes off seven days a week just to pay our mortgages, we don''t have time to read.

[abdoul_pasha]

Especially the people who write here don`t read at all and are illiterate.

[mocalleo]

CBS Headline:
Study: Americans Reading A Lot Less

Between the internet, satellite / cable TV, video games, and I-phone

not exactly a "Pew"litzer prize winning article.

DUH