Kids are in a ‘reading recession,’ as test scores continue to decline

I never fared well with reading books as part of the school curriculum. And I was abysmal with advanced math classes. What saved me was writing. Why do few studies include the writing portion of school tests?

I never skipped a day of school as a truant. I couldn’t. I would be roasted by my father. Instead, I found a world of books, TV shows, movies, and Internet sites which I focused on after school was over.

I’ve actually learned more from reading books outside of schools than the ones that the teachers assigned.

I also remember in eighth grade when I was placed in a nonrigorous class and then when I showed my writing skills, I received a notice to attend an advanced class.

One more memory. I recall a teacher questioning my efforts in writing about Shakespeare’s King Lear in the twelfth grade. I simply told her I wrote it. I could’ve gone into further detail and called her totally inept as an instructor and educator. Instead, I just maintained my position on Cordelia’s loyalty to the King vis a vis her relationship to her sisters, Goneril and Regan.

Is this what the data collectors fear most? That a student can do poorly or adequately on tests for reading and math but do well when it comes to writing?

I had taken a state test in the ninth grade which gave me a prompt where I used the phrase “feast your mind’s eye on….” I think that this gave me a five out of five rating in writing, with five being the highest possible score.

So, maybe the students of today are more focused on science and history which are brothers to math and reading, respectively. They share the same kind of machinery and lets kids know what they’re going to be in for with these tests.

All of this calls for the initiation of only private schools in the country. We must see a day where phonics is used by private institutions for children who will be raised from pre-K to post doctorate.

Writing enables the child to think clearer. I’m all for reading and math but writing is the engine that lets you know whether everything is alright under the hood.

The capacity to write informs all of the disciplines and the reading is interconnected. There came a time when I could write a fiction story in Honors English. Excitement circuited through my body like electricity. I got an A in the piece and it received applause from classmates.

Educators ought to hone in on the strengths while still mending the broken parts of the student’s repertoire. If little Shaniqua wants to write poems, permit her to continue to jot down verse. If young Brayer is content with exploring scientific modules, help him to study that and learn about how reading asserts itself in that realm.

The aforementioned phonics is the best way to teach reading. It gives the student the ability to sound out words. This contributes to an understanding of the definitions of the terms and to be allowed to open themselves up to new territories in other subjects.

If it is at all possible, lottery systems and money set aside for schools to improve on the amount of parental involvement with the options to homeschool, or place their children in prime classes, that is the kind of education that should be considered.

Why very few people say test scores for writing is sad. Whenever students put a stylus to screen, they are writing their way to that next grade, next position, next adventure. So, writing must be championed as the old phrase about the three “Rs” goes: “‘Readin’, ‘Ritin’, and ‘Rithmatic.”