Summary Of Too Dumb For Complex Text By Mark Bauerlein

In other countries, students must pass an exam to just receive a high school education. Here in America, many college students cannot even do the simplest of algebra problems. In contrast, students just entering high school in these other countries have already learned more than American high school seniors. Furthermore, most people in foreign countries have learned to speak English as a second language. In his article, Moore points out that “70 percent of those who graduate from America’s colleges are not required to learn a foreign language” (157). This information proves that the curriculums of all American schools, including colleges, are not as demanding as the curriculums in schools of other countries. In addition to a poor curriculum, many facilities are in horrible conditions and lack the proper resources that students need to learn. Moore suggests to “walk into any public school, and the odds are good that you’ll find overflowing classrooms, leaking ceilings, and demoralized teachers” (156). A school’s environment is what sets the mood for learning, so if the environment is bad, it can only be expected for the students to not be as cooperative as they would be if they were in a proper environment. This means that schools must provide resources that contain correct and up-to-date information. All schools need to have a good library, computer lab, and recent textbooks.

Co-author of “They Say/I Say” handbook, Gerald Graff, analyzes in his essay “Hidden Intellectualism” that “street smarts” can be used for more efficient learning and can be a valuable tool to train students to “get hooked on reading and writing” (Graff 204). Graff’s purpose is to portray to his audience that knowing more about cars, TV, fashion, and etc. than “academic work” is not the detriment to the learning process that colleges and schools can see it to be (198). This knowledge can be an important teaching assistant and can facilitate the grasping of new concepts and help to prepare students to expand their interests and write with better quality in the future. Graff clarifies his reasoning by indicating, “Give me the student anytime

As generations pass, and students change and develop, teachers and administrators propose new techniques to help students improve. From the introduction of school, to the division of age groups, to standardized testing, someone always has a new way to help students in school. A new idea, however, may be the key to success. A school in Massachusetts has developed a new program that challenges students with college level classes while still in high school. As students improve in school, to prevent boredom in the classroom, they need a challenge, this challenge being harder level, college courses. While still in the comfort of high school, students experience the rigor of college classes, this helping ease the transition into higher education

“To Dumb for Complex Texts?”, an essay by Mark Bauerlein, states high schools are at fault for students inability to comprehend complex texts. Bauerlein starts by noting students who enter college are not as prepared as they should be, evidenced by their placement exam scores. Bauerlein goes on to state the lack of readiness is due to high schools increasing focus on digital reading, rather than the physical form. Additionally Bauerlein writes that complex reading is not thoroughly integrated in to student curriculum. Bauerlein believes that because of the high schools simple literature curriculum, students beginning college have not been properly exposed to complex texts, and as a result cannot properly comprehend the readings assigned in

Gaining knowledge from each grade level is important. Students obtaining all of the information and resources from their twelve year education, will prepare them for college as well as success in entry-level careers. When students are not challenged beyond their limits, then they are hindered from receiving the best education possible. The complexity of texts that students are reading today does not match with what is demanded in college. For example, many college athletes lack all of the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in academic college courses. Some public universities have athletes who could read only up to an eight-grade level. Common core standards will ensure to create uniform milestones that will enhance students with the standards of being college and career ready. Students as well as people in the career field should learn knowledge and skills that are relevant to the real

Bauerlein’s volition toward complex text crafted high knowledge that made the argument competent. First thing bauerlein;s explain how American high school and college students are developing a habit of only doing “fast reading” requiring them to deal with complex texting that require slow contemplative readings.as a result, their ability to comprehend and appreciate complex text is declining I agree with the author that we want to avoid hurting readers who are unable to deal with a complex text, but I also feel that the new generation is going to deal with complex text in new ways with new digital technology.Bauerlein also

graduates not being properly prepared for entry level college courses. Recent national figures in the United States show only 8 percent of high school students take the needed foundational courses that prepare them to be col lege and career ready. Unfortunately, these figures are not just isolated to the United States. They are visible in numerous countries around the world. In a quantitative research study created by the University of Notre Dame Australia, Fermantle campus, it was hypothesized that the reason why students could not qualify for college entrance is because they lacked the needed experience with extended reading writing task. In response to this hypothesis, they created a “primer” course which was essentially and intervention program designed to close academic gaps in reading, writing, and mathematics, so that students could meet the minimum college standards for entrance. Since this issue has be adequately researched outside of the United States, there may be some benefits to

One of the root causes of the decline in college retention rates is the inexistence of a demanding and preparatory curriculum. The call for a consistent standard of a high school curriculum was issued as early as 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk, addressed to the entire nation and the US Department of Education. In this report, The narrowing of curriculum directly affected students who struggled to stay on the path to higher education. The most important determinant of the attainment of a collegiate degree is the academic intensity of a student’s high school curriculum (Adelman, 2006). The presence of a strong academic core, according to studies, results in greater learning capacities and skills for students. The ACT conducted a research in which they compared students who completed a rigorous core of college preparatory subjects in high school versus students who didn’t. The results showed that those who completed the curriculum set for them scored higher on tests like the ACT and SAT, were more likely to be prepared for the intensity of college courses, avoid remedial classes their first year at a postsecondary institution, and persist in college until they earned a degree (Lotkowski, Robbins, and Noeth, 2001). The students who enter college with insufficient skills spend their first

To ground his arguments on facts, Gioia cites a survey executed by the US Bureau of the Census: “Art participation by Americans has declined...most severely[] among younger adults.” Gioia brings up this piece of evidence to show that the decline of interest in literature is backed by solid studies. In the process, Gioia borrows credibility from the US Bureau of the Census and transfers it into his own arguments. Later in the article, Gioia states a poll made by the National Association of Manufactures that “38 percent of employers complained that local schools inadequately taught reading comprehension.” By using factual evidence, Gioia not only shows the problem lack of literature education brings, but also the extent of the problem. The substantial results of the survey will even convince the skeptical readers of the urgency in the deterioration of reading education. Gioia brilliantly bolsters his claims of urgency and emphasizes again that the lack of reading education is an issue that need to be

Some High School graduates may be unprepared for a college curriculum. This could be due to the fact that a high school education only focuses on the basics of academia. One can assume that this is why high school graduates are underprepared for the rigorous academic assignments they will have as a freshmen in college. This social issue may impact the high school graduates college experiences in a negative way. Being underprepared for college classes may lead to students dropping out of college, failing their classes, and emotional or psychological distress.

For our survey, we juxtaposed senior knowledge of California High School with that of freshmen's knowledge of the school. By doing so, we were able to compare how much a freshman knows about a school versus how much more a senior knows after four years. 70 seniors of Ms. Montague’s Composition class were surveyed while 43 freshman were surveyed from Ms. Montague’s Advanced English 9 classes. We predicted that as seniors, who have been exposed to the high school for four years, we would be able to know a lot more about the school than the freshman. We asked questions which covered several aspects of high school life, including school building locations and staff members.

Have you ever wondered how many students are truly reading to learn or just reading to get it done? It has become evident that in today’s society reading is less important to students than it really should be. Not only is reading diminishing in the lives of students, faculty are even paying more attention to the writing process and less on the student’s reading strategies. It is assumed that at the college level students should have the capability to read adequately and properly, meaning students should be able to synthesize, analyze and comprehend what they are reading. Unfortunately, this is not the case most of the time because devotion and attention to the process and practice of reading is stopped after the elementary school level.

Despite the evidence that not reading makes us sound pretty dumb and unrefined, while consuming literary texts improves us, we remain tethered to technology that encourages communication in the most reduced form possible.

One question that has mystified teachers and lawmakers alike is, “Does High School properly prepare students for College upon graduation?”. Certainly, academic counselors can advise students in the right direction in terms of grades and what path career path to take upon graduation. Extracurricular activities such sports and clubs help enhance one’s social skills and help prevent a student from becoming addicted to vices; such as drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, when one examines the curriculum outcome from High Schools nationally, trouble looms. Studies from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) find that only a third of U.S. high school seniors are prepared to tackle college-level course work in the fields of math and reading.

The two opposing opinions Rich presents in her essay are the differences between reading in print and reading on the internet. she explains, that kids from this generation who have access to the Internet have more tendency to read more for fun, spend more time reading articles and commenting about what they read, but she also explain that a lot of critics show that reading online does not improve reading and many adolescence fail tests.