No ignoranus left behind
Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck could become regulars in elementary and middle school classrooms after Maryland’s top educator encouraged teachers Thursday to use comic books to inspire students to read.
The kids loved it, educators said.
Critics, though, see a worrisome trend in a generation raised on the restless pace of television, movies and video games.
“I don’t think that is where I want my 9- or 10-year-old child spending their time in school,” said Timothy Shanahan, president of the International Reading Association. “It might be a choice of reading 1,000 words versus 300 words,” Shanahan said. “You don’t want it to replace more substantial reading.”
Yup. Let’s dumb down the curriculum even further to be certain the least motivated kids make it to the bottom rung. Continue allowing them to make the decisions about what they “want” to learn.
The same kind of crap psychologizing that’s destroyed the craft and career of teaching in America. The foolishness that’s produced a nation ill-equipped to learn anything on their own.
Don’t you mean “edumacators”?
The government will save us! Oh, wait…
Actually, comic books are a good way to teach and encourage reading as long as it is not a replacement for books. One of the first things I learned to read was the Sunday Comics page.
eideard, i believe you mean ‘ignoramus’, unless you’ve intentionally coined a new portmanteau with ignoramus and anus.
Good thing I didn’t place any bets with my fellow editors when I put this Post in the queue, last night.
#4 – the “typo” was deliberate.
I had a really, really hard time learning to read when I was young. If it weren’t for comic books I woud have had absolutely no interest in reading at all, and so any success I’ve had in my education is, I believe, largely due to comic books. I have a degree in applied math and a second degree in computer science.
My parents let me read anything, as long as it wasn’t a comic book. I amaze people constantly with my reading speed and retention.
#3 – thats funny, first things I started reading were BOOKS (you know, the kind with just text, no pictures – your imagination has to make the pictures)
#10 – That’s how Craniac became the evil genius that he is. When he was a two year old child from Kronus he could read at a high school level. He could not read enough and he retained everything he read. As he read more his brain had to expand to hold all the brain cells that were manufactured. That is why his head is so large. He would rather read than sleep which led to his insomnia which led to his paranoia which led to his desire for world dominance.
Well, anyway, that’s the way I read it….
I’m thinking if I could get that sleeping contraption I read about in this blog onto his head I will save the world.
We must send these educators a copy of the classic work The Seduction of the Innocent before it’s too late. Comic Books are the predecessors to video games as the cause of JUVENILE DELINQUENCY, as noted in the book.
/sarcasm
J/P=?
Me? Learned to read at 3 years, speed is 600 wpm (normal reading for entertainment – ‘scanning’ is about 1500), and I STILL (occasionally, not that many good ones) read comic books/graphic novels
Comic books are fine…
I learned to Love real books, after I found that SOME of the comics were based on BOOKS…
Look up Myth adventures…When it hit the comics I looked up the books…
At Least it gave me a choice, over reading the Scarlet letter, and others that I had little insight, or understanding..
#12, J/P=?
Collins Radio paid for my Evelyn Wood course in sped reding. How else can you get thru tons of damn astronomical data in minutes instead of hours? It’s that comprehension stuff that’s difficult to master. Of course with this blog, 15-20 seconds per article and comments is sufficient. 🙂
#13, ECA, Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin?
I too learned to read from comic books. As an adult, I used them with my daughter as well. She’s now a librarian, by the way. Anybody else out there remember Carl Barks? The Junior Woodchucks? Great fun and, yes, educational. When I was a teacher I always had a selection of comics available (along with traditional books, of course) for my class reading periods. Like most things, there are good ones and bad ones, but overall they can be a useful tool.
Doesn’t the fact that children now have access to computers and internet make them highly motivated readers? Even if it is to simply read the instructions on how to solve a game. Don’t most kids these type just fine simply because they’ve been typing on keyboards and mobile phones since birth?
As they crave more and more information, most of which is written in English on the Internet, doesn’t that sort of make all but the stupidest kids readers?
As long as it’s using phonics, it’s fine with me. All these new reading theories are ridiculous.
15, yep, they did a graphic novel of the first of the series..
17,
Its a Motivated reader you want…you must find something thay are WILLING to read. With all the genre out there, how easy is it to find something you are willing to read…Or are you into Harliqin..
I find i like Sci-fi, Fantasy, comedic, and abit of horror.
First real books I enjoyed, we HP lovecraft, and Poe..
But, also being able to compare them to the movies, is great. Esp with Vincent Price, and Boris carlof.