guess all us folks out here in Cyberia are just lookin at the purty pitchers?

The 'dumbing down' of america is working well it seems.

People talk about these things as if the reasons they are bad are utterly self evident.
I don't really understand where people are going with this ultimately.

In a world where strong reading and writing skills are less important with technology, does it stand to reason to say that lower test scores indicate our... whatever they even are supposed to indicate in the first place?

Yes. Yes, it does. In this world of technology, we NEED to have the skills to do without it, because we WILL have to do without it eventually. The crutch of Technology is not here to stay, despite any foreseeable indications to that effect. Humanity is simply too unpredictable to guarantee it.

Strong reading and writing skills are less important with technology? How in the fuck are you supposed to learn or communicate with anyone if you are functionally illiterate?

TMTR, link to video plz.

guess all us folks out here in Cyberia are just lookin at the purty pitchers?emphasized text

You'd be surprised at how many people are mesmerized by shiny things.

Both my mother and sister are librarians. From this, I've learned that a glorious chunk of good, hard learning comes from books. Whether we get them from a library or download, the written word of our elders and contemporaries kicks the shit out of pure data any day.

Without it, we are machines... or just Japanese.

Also, if there is ever an EMP, the people who have read a lot of books and all the books they've read and (more importantly) those they haven't - will be our only salvation.

Do you read?

copy that. over.

OMG, WTF! BOOK HATERZ FTW!!!!!!!

I've yet to hear a solid, believable explanation for all of this. I watch a lot of television and movies, and I play a lot of video games, and I practically live online, yet I read all the time too.

My bullshit theory is that people are more fearful of solitude than ever before, and the crutch of technology is a social one.

I don't blame television; I blame cellphones, email, social networking Web sites and so on. Not that they created this, but they salve a natural desire for gregarious interaction the same way a triple cheeseburger salves a desire for cheap calories and pornography salves a desire to nut and go about your day.

Books require alone time and privacy, even in public places, and that's just not in right now.

There is a large difference between functionally illiterate and having 'strong' reading and writing skills. The point is that we don't all have to be great technical writers and ardent literary critics to be able to communicate. Really, I don't think the general populous ever will be for the most part.

Historically only wealthy people were really literate at all. Mass literacy is a relatively newer thing brought on by cheap printing and public education. Yet, people communicated well. Things like Homer's epics and the bible all came out of strong oral traditions of illiterate people.

With technology, reading and writing are less important because there are other available media. You no longer have to be able to read a newspaper to get the news (TV, radio). In fact, you don't even have to be able to read to experience books (audio books, movies).

My point is that schools analysts keep freaking out about literacy strength without much explanation as to why it is ultimately so important. Yes, you can get a better job with better skills, but that doesn't explain the philosophical significance. After all, if we somehow made it so everyone was perfectly able to read and write, then that would make it meaningless towards job credentials.

I guess the idea is that we should just be better than other countries. That way...uh... we win?