Are American kids stupid ?

[Wiregrass Willie]

I was watching a segment of TV last night about the new Harry Potter book. I don't care anything about that, but I was shocked at what I saw concerning American children. The program showed a roomful of about 12 children. They were ages 10 to 12 -- and all of them were sitting up all night reading the new Harry Potter book. They each had a brand new copy.

There's nothing wrong with reading. I advocate it strongly. But 12 kids reading 12 new and identical books ? I would guess that book costs about $30. So we are looking at kids who have wasted about $360 on that book. Had this group had any intelligence at all, they would have bought one book and stayed up all night taking turns reading it to each other. That way they would have had $330 to enjoy today.

If this is common in American homes, no wonder the Republicans are winning. It would appear that the demand for Corporate profits has uprooted America's family intelligence. How sad.

[saltpoint]

1. We ask too little of our school students as it is. If their reading

can be supplemented by Harry Potter books, or SpiderMan comcis, or anything else, I'm for it.

You can raise my taxes to pay for an elevated educational or health care system any time.

It's a great investment.

[Throwing Stones]

31. I'm not interested in Harry Potter at all, but if it gets kids reading ...

And here, here to your post - not enough people see raising taxes (if spent wisely) as benefiting everyone, but that's exactly what a progressive society does. If only teachers in this country were paid in proportion to their importance.

:toast:

[saltpoint]

32. Bartender! A VERY cold beer for my pal, Throwing Stones.

First, because I agree with every syllable in the post, and second, because teachers have been too long ignored and under-valued.

:toast:

[Throwing Stones]

35. Cheers

Thanks, OC. I know a few people who followed their passion for teaching, and they are obscenely underpaid; and I know a few people who would have made great teachers, but chose not go that route for economic reasons. Damn shame on both accounts, in my opinion.

[saltpoint]

36. Couldn't agree more.

I recall with great fondness the true and genuine teachers I had and tend to forget the trauma the poorer ones inflicted.

The good stuff survives.

[Throwing Stones]

37. Yup, and I wonder if the bad ones might not have sucked so much if they had been paid a living wage

maybe not, but I did (and still do) try to give 'em the benefit of the doubt.

[saltpoint]

38. Good point. Plus, I was 17 or 14 or 12 or something, and

was far away from any big-picture notion of what the process actually involved.

My Great Aunt Lois was the first school teacher in a region of far north Montana at the turn of the 20th centure. My folks were teachers.

Agree with you completely: we need to fatten teacher salaries and invest in a new generation of excellent readers and thinkers.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. AHEM. It is "IS AMERICAN KIDS STOOPID?"

Please. Remember who are president.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. The book only cost me $20

I also think this is a pretty silly thing to complain about. Anytime kids are reading, they are showing how smart they are.

[datasuspect]

26. sister mary ignatius in 5th grade didn't think i was too smart for reading mad magazine

in school.

she called my mom about this. all because i showed her a picture in the book of a nun wearing a bikini!

imagine that.

[MostlyAmused]

4. Books aren't the problem.

More like $18 than $30. The book was discounted everywhere.

Republicans aren't winning because kids buy books.

[JVS]

5. reading aloud sucks

[slowry]

7. Ever been to a book-reading :P? n/t

[Bluebear]

6. To be fair, if I were a child, I would hold my own copy dear.

I would not care if I saved money "to enjoy today", I would want my own copy to sit on the shelf next to the other episodes of Harry Potter, to read and re-read again. :)

[Warpy]

10. Exactly

Plus, you read silently a hell of a lot faster than you can read aloud, unless you're a mouth breathing Republic lip reader and in that case you won't be reading anything, at all, especially not Harry Potter books.

Those kids are the bright ones. They're the ones who will run things when they grow up.

The kids with parents who think anything but the bible is Satanic will grow up to wear paper hats.

[Madspirit]

43. I love Harry Potter

We even cover Harry Potter on my SciFi Group. The OP is obviously a Muggle. Getting kids to read ANYTHING these days is a great thing. That they are reading something so full of metaphor, magick and meaning thrills me to death.

Lee

[JitterbugPerfume]

8. t thrills me to see that many kids reading

what upsets me is ,why is everyone reading the same thing? There is all kinds of literature out there that is suitable for children, that is equal to or even superior to Harry Potter.

I wonder if when it is no longer "fashionable" if these kids will continue to be readers?


One can only hope so.

I know, I know--I am just a tired old pessimist

[Ronnie]

12. As a former reading teacher:

Kids love reading the same book at the same time. They talk about it, fantasize about it, and, just in general, have fun with it. And what curmudgeon would deprive kids of having their own copy of a book that they can read again and again? I did that with 'Little Women', 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm', the Heidi series, and many others. My son did that with the Hardy Boys books. He still has a box of them that he plans to pass on to his own children. He continues to be a reader, and I think the chances are good that these children will as well.

[zalinda]

13. It's the water cooler thing

I have not read Harry Potter yet, but I do intend to. Groups form on different subjects. If the group you want to belong to reads Potter, you will want to read potter so you will have something to talk to them about. And the first kids to pick up the book probably did it because it was thick and looked like an adult book, and appealed to them. So many "children's" books really dumb it down for them. You want children to read, don't treat them like idiots.

zalinda

[PA Democrat]

9. Our set of Harry Potter books has been read and re-read by

both of my kids. I admit, I've read several of them as well. I love to read the same book as my kids and then discuss it with them.

My son and I recently both read Life of Pi. I was ready to go out and buy a second copy of the book because we fought over the one we had. I told a little about the story line to my son, and every time I turned around he was sneaking away with my copy because he too had become enthralled with the story. We STILL talk about that book because the ending really leaves you guessing. I will probably read that book again.

Also, I share and swap books with friends and family, and I have donated literally hundreds of books over the years to my local library. I don't look at the purchase of a book as acquiring a personal possession, but more as a gift to share/ pass on to others.

[NJCher]

14. another way

I don't look at the purchase of a book as acquiring a personal possession, but more as a gift to share/ pass on to others.

That's a very sweet way to look at it. There's some Web site that promotes something similar to your philosophy, but I can't remember the name and I can't look it up since I lost my bookmarks in my May computer crash. Anyway, the web site encourages people to leave books in places and then people post on the site where they left what book.

When I was at my tea shop yesterday, the proprietor, a Japanese mother of four, said she purchased one copy. The priority is oldest to youngest. The oldest had just finished reading at 3 a.m. and passed it on to a sibling who started reading immediately after :) I do have to smile when I think of one kid waking another up at 3 a.m. to hand over a book.

Now, one other point. Hearing a book is not the same is reading it I would go nuts if I had to listen to someone read me a book. I just want to read it.



Cher

[PA Democrat]

29. That sounds like a neat program.

Kind of like putting a message in a bottle and seeing where it shows up.

[LWolf]

39. You mean BookCrossing?

http://www.bookcrossing.com/

I have released many books through them, as well as donating them to libraries and other community groups that use books.

I can only fit so many shelves in the house, and when they are overflowing, something has to go. I have some books that I've had for 40 years, and others move on when I feel "done" with them.

[NJCher]

41. That's it!!

Thank you, lwolf. :hug:



Cher

[CrispyQ]

11. I loved to read as a kid

& I would not have wanted to listen to other kids reading a treasured story out loud. Save that for reading class.

Here's what I find more disturbing: in spite of Harry Potter & the internet, reading is on the decline among American children. So said CNN, over & over & over, yesterday.

Of all the loves my mother instilled in me, I am most thankful for the joy of reading. Thanks Mom! :thumbsup:

[gollygee]

15. They all want to read it at the same time so they can hurry up and talk about it

not wait three weeks while everyone has a chance to read their own copy.

My husband and I got one copy to share. I read it yesterday. He said he doesn't intend to read it in just one day. LOL

Really, any trend that has so many kids so interested in reading is a good trend in my opinion.

[treestar]

16. No, just lazy and entitled, which they get from their parents

We are shocked that nonAmericans work harder and smarter and try to overtake us in the competition. We seem to think we should be smarter without having to work at it.

[JacquesMolay]

42. good one, m8

n/t

[Inkyfuzzbottom]

17. It's good to see

kids still cherish books. There are far worse things for kids to spend money on. A book is something tangible that can be kept forever and read over and over again. Growing up we didn't have much extra income to splurge on things. My mother, also an avid reader, always allowed me to buy the book club books offered at a discount through my school. Granted, there were limits to how many I could purchase, but I was always allowed to buy books. I still have many of these books and have also given many away to the children of my friends.

[MonkeyFunk]

18. and if a million of 'em got together

and read it out loud, they could've saved 30,000,000!!

What a silly argument.

[in_cog_ni_to]

19. Well, my son had to explain to his 14 year old girlfriend who AL GORE IS, but that's not about

books, is it?

Reading aloud to friends is not the same as getting lost in a good book by reading to yourself. I've NEVER read books aloud to my friends, ever. I use to read to my son when he was too young to read, but that's about it.

Children SHOULD read! It's good for them. Books are a GOOD THING.

[toddaa]

20. Well, you've convinced me

Please send me all of your books.

[countingbluecars]

21. Money well spent IMO. eom

[ComerPerro]

22. yeah, its obviously the 12 year old kids' fault. They drove themselves there and fronted the cash

[NMMNG]

23. Reading for oneself helps increase intelligence

So it would seem that the kids who are reading the books themselves aren't so stupid after all.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

24. The stupidity lies within the question. Books are to be read & reread, discussed, written in

American kids are quite intelligent.

Many people would like to characterize them as "stupid" & blame the public school system. They then argue that vouchers and faith based schools are the answer.

When education is being held hostage to No Child Left Behind, it has the potential of being harmed. Just one example: Under NCLB, students with identified disabilities are given the same academic assessments as their nondisabled peers, and all scores are factored together. This is setting all children up for failure. And is especially cruel to the students who have to take a test that is beyond their abilities.

[wavesofeuphoria]

25. I'm guessing then that you posted this from the library's

public computer or some community computer resource room?

And by having "$330 to enjoy today" ... by that do you mean ... spend it on something else today .. ie feed the demand for Corporate profits?

A segment showing a "roomful of about 12 children" = representation of what is common in American homes and American children?

In response to the query .. are American kids stupid? ... don't think its isolated to kids .......

[Nikia]

27. I think that 10-12 year old kids reading books that long is amazing

Despite always scoring in the top 10% or better on all the standardized tests in verbal/reading and reading more than almost every other kid I knew, I did not even try to read books of more than 200-300 pages when I was that age. Most other children's literature is under 200 pages. I think that it is amazing that children are reading books much longer than that in large numbers.

[datasuspect]

28. i just hope they keep manufacturing harry potter books, otherwise kids might stop reading

but i have faith they will manufacture some other hyped up tripe to loosen families of their money.

[cobalt1999]

30. The irony is someone who was watching TV calling kids reading "stupid"

How about turning off the television and reading something yourself?

You sound like some overweight guy eating a Big Mac while complaining kids are out of shape.

Kids should spend more money and time on books.

[mainer]

33. So no one should buy books and just go to the library?

And wait their turn (#3002 in line!)?

With your attitude, there'd be no publishers in business. No authors in business. No books published. Because a publisher cannot survive if it only prints 10,000 copies maximum of a title (about how many copies it takes to fully stock all the libraries in the U.S.)

Would you prefer that kids spend their money on brand new Nikes instead? (At which price they could buy 5 books.)

[Alexander]

34. At least they're reading SOMETHING. Most people don't read, ever.

I'd rather a kid pick up a Harry Potter book and start reading than veg out in front of the idiot box all day.

[LWolf]

40. We have 2 copies in our house.

That way the family waiting line is halved.

When we are done, we will keep one and give the other away.

I don't see love of books, time spent with books, ownership of books, group book reading/discussing, to be a problem.

I see it to be a step towards literacy. :shrug:

[Swamp Rat]

44. Well, their reading material is not quite on par with what I experienced.

By the time I was 12 I had already read: 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, Anthem, Metamorphosis, Call of the Wild and other London books, every single story written by Edgar Allen Poe, the entire Foundation series by Asimov, Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22, Cat's Cradle, numerous works by Heinlein, Lovecraft, and other sci-fi writers, all of the Tolkein books (except the Silmarillion, which I read a little later), every VW Beetle manual in my father's collection (including a GM DYI book), the Bismarck, the Hindenburg, the Graf Spee, Das Boot, part of the Odyssey, NUMEROUS Greek stories of Icarus and Daedalus, the Titans, Medea, etc., and every Snoopy book published. I am certain I have left out hundreds of books.

On th flip side, I did waste a lot of time watching TV: The Little Rascals, the Three Stooges, Star Trek, the Munsters and the Addams Family, Gilligan's Island, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Batman, HR Puff-N-Stuff, Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, et al.

:D