
Humans have a knack for finding the easiest way around things, but one thing that is really hard to figure out is how could teenagers graduate from college / secondary / high school without being able to read or write?
Well, that is an excellent question. I know many have graduated from high school and we say they can't read or write. In fact, I think it is more that they can't read or write at a high school level. I don't know about college, except, if you are a star athlete, schools in the past have just passed you with much lower standards than those to which other students are held. It is my understanding that this isn't happening to the same extent as it did 20 years ago.
I know in many states in the US, a high school student must past a standardized test in order to qualify for graduation. This helps ensure that all students graduating in that state can, in fact, read and write. Not all states require this and I have no idea what standards other countries have in place to ensure their graduates are qualified.
Certainly some slip through the cracks, but really -- there is so much homework and report writing and etc., that it's difficult to believe that someone can actually graduate without knowing at least the basics. I come into contact frequently with young folks who can't spell, punctuate, or complete a thought, and have a lot of difficulty reading or comprehending what they've read. The state of our schools today is just awful.
Here's an example of the public school teaching my daughter is getting in second grade:
The assignment is to write a sentence that describes one of your classmates, and something that he or she likes.
What my daughter wrote was: "Savanna's favorite animal is cats."
How the teacher corrected it was to cross out the word "is" and replace it with the word "are."
Also, there are many more dropouts in the US today than ever before, and I'll tell you they can't read or write at an adult level.
Roz