>>>>>Almost 1/2 the people in Detroit are functionally illiterate? That's just nuts!
>>>>>
>>>>>http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/05/04/report-nearly-half-of-detroiters-cant-read/
>>>>
>>>>I'd say this is about right. Memphis is probably in similar shape, as are a lot of cities that have similar demographics. It is well known that black, inner city, kids try their best to dissuade learning. They are more into gang banging. Add the absence of a strong father figure to the equation and you have a very consistent formula for failure.
>>>
>>>I read from several sources that 1 in 7 USA adults is functionally illiterate. How in the heck can 1/7th of the adults in the USA be so uneducated? Isn't "functionally literate" mean like 7th grade reading ability? (which is like 4th grade reading ability when I was in school)
>>
>>I agree with you on the changing standards. when my daughter was in the 4th grade she attended a private school and at the end of the year she tested out at the 9th grade reading level. The next year she attended public school and after her first week, she came home and asked me why her classmates couldn't read very well....and sadly, some of those kids still cannot.
>
>Yep it's disgusting. I have a friend that approached one of her daughters teachers expressing concern that she didn't feel her daughter (who's in 7th grade) was spelling and reading as well as she should. The teachers response was "oh we teach that in 8th and 9th grade, we don't worry about it now because all the kids have spell checkers."... Needless to say my friend was not happy with this response at all and has resorted to spending 45min to an hour each night teaching her on her own. The thing that really gets me is that the school district is one of the top 5 in the whole nation!

Thats sort of understandable. After all, once the kids reach grade 8, this school starts to teach them. That's dedication.