Maggie’s Credentialed but Illiterate

Well it would, considering the author is summarizing the essay by bookbinder in his opening paragraph so that the reader knows what’s being addressed. And guess what? That’s exactly what most so-called AI programs actually do. We covered that earlier in the thread.

Of course, it could well be that that summary paragraph was AI generated. I’m not convinced though.
 
The thing is that kids are learning to read way younger today. Kids are considered to be behind if they aren't reading at 5 when they transition from preschool to kindergarden. There has been a huge push to teach kids to read younger. And it does not appear equating to more educated or well adapted kids.

To me it's not surprising. I don't think reading is nearly as important for young children as everything they learn through play. I think we might be displacing other learning for most of the group, by forcing the majority of children, who aren't ready to memorize all those characters and rules, to learn to read.
The "push" you describe is, ironically, part of the problem. That "push" comes from parents wanting to turn their kids into over-achievers because they think over-achieving beats actual achievements of substance. But why would a parent think this? Personal experience?

I went to private k-6 and public 7-12, timeframe mid 60s to late 70s. I was an early reader myself and my early reading/language abilities were why I got put into private school despite not being from a rich family. They stretched to send me there.

My brother attended the pvt school only through 3d grade. He switched to public in 4th.

As kids, he was not a reader at all. Didn't interest him. Opposite of me. I wonder how much is from his switch to public school and how much is natural to him. As kids he said he hated reading, and as an adult, he reads only rarely, usually a biography of someone he admires.

I know that at the private school, reading for your own enjoyment started getting encouraged in 4th grade English class. In that year we went to the library, talked to librarian about our interests, and she recommended books to suit our interests. This planted a seed for reading.
 
We must outlaw teachers unions and all other public sector unions.

Purge dems from all government jobs.

At a minimum, deport all Leftists to China or NK to be with their own kind.

Have major ad campaigns to state the facts about Trans being a mental illness, and the facts of American Exceptionalism, while warning against liberalism, fascism, marxism, maoism, socialism, communism, progressivism, authoritarianism, globalism.

In K-12 education, outlaw any mention or body language in favor of any form of the above political schemes, DEI, CRT, ESG, etc. Same for any school or gov't employees when it comes to giving any hint of their sexual orientation, sex/gender, relationship status, or political views.

In other words, make our Constitutional Republic Great Again!
Wow… 😮 in order to fight the left we should resort to a dictatorship that ignores everyone rights who think differently from yourself?

Ummm… do you understand what rights we have, why the “Bill of rights” prevents the govt from violating them and the whole thing about hate speech being necessary, hence protected?

Please, move to North Korea. I am conservative but not stupid.
 
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Well it would, considering the author is summarizing the essay by bookbinder in his opening paragraph so that the reader knows what’s being addressed. And guess what? That’s exactly what most so-called AI programs actually do. We covered that earlier in the thread.

Of course, it could well be that that summary paragraph was AI generated. I’m not convinced though.
Apologies for not reading every post. They were coming pretty fast while I was responding.

The gptzero results screenshotted above were from an evaluation of the full text of Patrick Keeney's essay from "In his trenchant essay, ..." through "best versions of themselves" presented in your original post, not just the introductory paragraph.

FWIW I found the original essay by hilariusbookbinder on stubstack. It's always good to go back to primary sources, eh?
 
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Apologies for not reading every post. They were coming pretty fast while I was responding.

The gptzero results screenshotted above were from an evaluation of the full text of Patrick Keeney's essay from "In his trenchant essay, ..." through "best versions of themselves" presented in your original post, not just the introductory paragraph.

FWIW I found the original essay by hilariusbookbinder on stubstack. It's always good to go back to primary sources, eh?
No apologies needed.

Yes, original sources are great, but for the purposes of this thread and for the discussion at hand, it’s moot.
 
The "push" you describe is, ironically, part of the problem. That "push" comes from parents wanting to turn their kids into over-achievers because they think over-achieving beats actual achievements of substance. But why would a parent think this? Personal experience?

I went to private k-6 and public 7-12, timeframe mid 60s to late 70s. I was an early reader myself and my early reading/language abilities were why I got put into private school despite not being from a rich family. They stretched to send me there.

My brother attended the pvt school only through 3d grade. He switched to public in 4th.

As kids, he was not a reader at all. Didn't interest him. Opposite of me. I wonder how much is from his switch to public school and how much is natural to him. As kids he said he hated reading, and as an adult, he reads only rarely, usually a biography of someone he admires.

I know that at the private school, reading for your own enjoyment started getting encouraged in 4th grade English class. In that year we went to the library, talked to librarian about our interests, and she recommended books to suit our interests. This planted a seed for reading.
Could be, I can say. I have never not one single time heard a parent or heard of a parent at a school board meeting saying their kids need to learn to read earlier. I think it's like when you hear a politician say, "everyone wants more cops."

My brother was motivated and learned to read young. I was not. I was evaluated for special education in the 2nd grade because I was not reading well. I was promptly given an IQ test after my evaluation and added to the gifted and talented program. 🙈🙉🙊

They had diffrent reading programs here. At school you got a personal pan pizza from pizza hut for reading x amount of books each month. And the library had a summer reading program that gave prizes gift certifies and such to local restaurants and the swimming pool.

Pushing/forcing/shaming kids for not reading kids to read probably makes about as many hate as love it. Some kids don't learn well by reading text. Some kids can't learn by reading text.

I was given Lego at each birthday froma young age and taught how to follow the instructions to build the the things in the instruction Manuel.
 
Could be, I can say. I have never not one single time heard a parent or heard of a parent at a school board meeting saying their kids need to learn to read earlier. I think it's like when you hear a politician say, "everyone wants more cops."

My brother was motivated and learned to read young. I was not. I was evaluated for special education in the 2nd grade because I was not reading well. I was promptly given an IQ test after my evaluation and added to the gifted and talented program. 🙈🙉🙊

They had diffrent reading programs here. At school you got a personal pan pizza from pizza hut for reading x amount of books each month. And the library had a summer reading program that gave prizes gift certifies and such to local restaurants and the swimming pool.

Pushing/forcing/shaming kids for not reading kids to read probably makes about as many hate as love it. Some kids don't learn well by reading text. Some kids can't learn by reading text.

I was given Lego at each birthday froma young age and taught how to follow the instructions to build the the things in the instruction Manuel.
Are you my son? 🥹😳

That’s how my kids grew up. My daughter is a more avid reader than my son, though he’s no slouch. Plus, we both read to our kids when they were toddlers and encouraged them to think and question.
 
What I think instinctive literacy, or "early reading" comes from, is a mix of curiosity and pattern recognition. You also have to be open to "rules" because language can be so confusing. Like with you're/your. Or when to use the " 's " possessive, and when it's just an apostrophe.

To me it was just fun to sort out spelling, sentence-making, grammar. And then seeing how that went, reading was natural from there.

Some people get flustered in writing/reading because of the "rules" side of things, where it can seem confusing or arbitrary. Some people figure out spelling from how a word sounds, they write it as it sounds, and find some "rule" suggests it is spelled otherwise.

At my private k-6 we also learned Spanish starting 1st grade. I remember comparing English and Spanish words, and sentence construction, etc., comparatively in that setting. I think that was a big help. Lots of our words come from Latinate origins and Spanish is a Latinate language.
 
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Are you my son? 🥹😳

That’s how my kids grew up. My daughter is a more avid reader than my son, though he’s no slouch. Plus, we both read to our kids when they were toddlers and encouraged them to think and question.
One of my favorite college profs was the guy I had for my 1st semester of Philosophy, Henry Sendaydiego, a Filipino who'd come to the USA and eventually became a Philosophy professor. He was funny introducing the subject to us, first day of class.

"I want you to be like a 3 or 4 year old child. Asking "why?" all the time. That is the basis of Philosophy."

He would imitate one of his many children, when he did the voice of "why?" and then cackle in a funny laugh.

Curiosity is the essence of all learning. Second place goes to humility, not thinking you know it all, already.

I might even say humility comes first. A humble curiosity can result in a brain full of useful thoughts and an arrogant curiosity might yield a whole lot of confirmation bias, stated confidently.
 
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What I think instinctive literacy, or "early reading" comes from, is a mix of curiosity and pattern recognition. You also have to be open to "rules" because language can be so confusing. Like with you're/your. Or when to use the " 's " possessive, and when it's just an apostrophe.

To me it was just fun to sort out spelling, sentence-making, grammar. And then seeing how that went, reading was natural from there.

Some people get flustered in writing/reading because of the "rules" side of things, where it can seem confusing or arbitrary. Some people figure out spelling from how a word sounds, they write it as it sounds, and find some "rule" suggests it is spelled otherwise.

At my private k-6 we also learned Spanish starting 1st grade. I remember comparing English and Spanish words, and sentence construction, etc., comparatively in that setting. I think that was a big help. Lots of our words come from Latinate origins and Spanish is a Latinate language.
Great post. In my mind it's more complicated than that. All peoples brains work differently. I worked with a 5 year old that picked up the Russian alphabet and his mother didn't know where he picked it up from. If there is dyslexia and hyperlexia there is everything in-between.

I have a non-verbal 4 year old that took my fisher price piano and started playing the ABC song after seeing me play in prior weeks. He sounded it out finding the correct keys then played it. Not just memorized my key strokes. He understands the music in a way I could never understand.

A person who understands text very well, could never understand what its like to have trouble understanding it.

It reminds me of something my mom told when I first started working with young children. I said, it's easy, why do other people have so much trouble? She said, "just because it's easy for you doesn't make it easy for everyone."

We were all given diffrent gifts by our creator, and those gifts cause us all to have diffrent challenges as well.
 
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Are you my son? 🥹😳

That’s how my kids grew up. My daughter is a more avid reader than my son, though he’s no slouch. Plus, we both read to our kids when they were toddlers and encouraged them to think and question.
Not gonna give a Cheech and Chong line about relations with buffalos are ye? 🤣🤣🤣

20251009_094837.jpg


Figs, Citrus and pineapples in CO. Might be related. I can't seem to resist taking pictures of cool flowers either.🤣🤣
 
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Great post. In my mind it's more complicated than that. All peoples brains work differently. I worked with a 5 year old that picked up the Russian alphabet and his mother didn't know where he picked it up from. If there is dyslexia and hyperlexia there is everything in-between.

I have a non-verbal 4 year old that took my fisher price piano and started playing the ABC song after seeing me play in prior weeks. He sounded it out finding the correct keys then played it. Not just memorized my key strokes. He understands the music in a way I could never understand.

A person who understands text very well, could never understand what its like to have trouble understanding it.

It reminds me of something my mom told when I first started working with young children. I said, it's easy, why do other people have so much trouble? She said, "just because it's easy for you doesn't make it easy for everyone."

We were all given diffrent gifts by our creator, and those gifts cause us all to have diffrent challenges as well.
For sure. I might come off a bit negative toward people not like me, but that's more from being a nerd than really feeling superior or anything. At this stage of my life I see my talents/abilities/whatever as both gifts and curses, and I would say the same holds true for any particular set of traits one possesses.

I've mentioned in a post a few months back, on another subject, that I spent 2 yrs working with kids who had been traumatized or abused, physically/emotionally/sexually, as kids. All of these kids were in "special ed" programs at school and had a little under average horsepower upstairs. Some of their biggest struggles I saw were in merely saying something that they were troubled by. Explaining it, in words. Their frustration in this often caused them to feel worse about themselves.

I tried to work with them in the sense of small pieces of the big overwhelming problem or feeling. Best I could do with my abilities. Sometimes it helped.