I am troubled by how many of our patients are functionally illiterate. In my ER the patient fills out a half-slip of paper that they give to the greeter with their name, reason for visit and primary doctor. Some samplings:
staff infeksion
stomack ake
spazzms
amonia
How is it possible in a nation with billions of tax dollars spent on education so many Americans cannot read or write properly?
What is even sadder is that many of those that are illiterate are on welfare or disability - which came first? Are they unemployable because of their illiteracy or were they too lazy to work in school or in the real world?
Sunday, September 7, 2008
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10 comments:
Try teaching Comp I and II to nurses, and ushering them through research projects.
t's why Giod invented single malt.
Easy - students don't have to learn to be passed to the next grade. Its considered "too embarrasing" for them to be held back.
"Culture of poverty," and "sense of entitlement" are the firsts that come to mind. Both are enabled by the welfare system. Take away cradle-to-grave government assistance, and everyone might be surprised how smart and motivated in school AND willing to work many people become.
I live near Houston and have seen the effects of the Katrina evacuees. Sure, call me racist or whatever, but the majority of the people who HAD to move here to shelters and whatnot due to government dependency have wreaked havoc on this city. It's not my fault when they are interviewed on TV stating, "The government's been takin' care of me all my life! What's I supposed to do now?"
I worked in an inner city University Hospital for over 15 years and this comment on the interplay among welfare, disability, and illiteracy is insensitive and flip--with no mention of the complexiites of poverty and school funding-or the ties to the economics of it all. I was an ER Nurse, too, and I could never believe my ears when such ignorant words flowed so freely out of such "high-minded" folks. Wow--I feel validated I went back for my MSS,LCSW.
you forgot my favorite
soar throt
Too many "innovative" educational products, too little hard, dry, phonics; and as another commenter said, too many kids passed from one grade to another without having to accomplish anything. Public schools have largely become social engineering centers.
What is most sad is that some of the students I knew in university nursing school spell like that!
I'm truly glad to see you back!
What is worse ? The hard working immigrant who cooks and cleans at your favourite restaurant but doesn't speak fluent English ? Or some kid who has the birth right to an education but doesn't value it ? May be you can tell the immigrant to go back to where they come from. What would you tell the bum who just happens to have more birth right and equality ?
This is a really old post, but I've been reading the whole thing more or less straight through anyway. Might as well comment.
The average IQ of the entire population is theoretically 100. That's what an IQ of 100 means. 100 isn't that bright. In fact, it's barely enough to graduate high school. For that to be the AVERAGE, you have to consider that there's a huge portion of the population that falls UNDER that. No amount of education is going to fix their ability to spell. I once came across a website with a trip to walmart analogy for IQs. In a group of 100 people wandering around walmart at any given time, there's somewhere around 10 of them that are profoundly disabled - and probably drove themselves there. I have to keep that perspective in mind when I see all of the bad spelling in the world, too.
This post is extremely old, but I wanted to comment. Have you been to an under funded, under staffed inner city school. There aren't enough textbooks, paper, desks or any other materials for the students. Not all of "billions of tax dollars" go to all the schools. Unfortunatley, in cities where there is a budget crisis, some of the first funding to be cut is from the school budget. This is not the fault of the children, or anybody else who had to grow up in that enviornment. So think before you make such insensetive, ridiculous comments as these.
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