Slashdot Mirror
We're In the Midst of a Literacy Revolution
Mike Sauter sends in a piece from Wired profiling research by Andrea Lunsford, a professor of writing and rhetoric at Stanford, from which she concludes that we don't need to worry about computers and the Internet causing a decline in general literacy. "[Lunsford] has organized a mammoth project called the Stanford Study of Writing to scrutinize college students' prose. From 2001 to 2006, she collected 14,672 student writing samples — everything from in-class assignments, formal essays, and journal entries to emails, blog posts, and chat sessions. Her conclusions are stirring. 'I think we're in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek civilization,' she says. For Lunsford, technology isn't killing our ability to write. It's reviving it — and pushing our literacy in bold new directions."
Ch3k 0t th3s sUp@ l77t sk1llzzzzz!!!!!!!1!!! Phd engr1sh !n d@ bawg, h0lmes!!!!!!!!!!!!1111
"She might not be popular with some people in actually praising a new generation. I remember watching a discussion on some TV show once where a professor stated that in his experience the current young people were much more diligent and hard working than previous generations. It didn't go down well at all with the rest of the tut-tuting panel."
I know it's a troll to not boast of the younger generations but I have been hiring workers since the early 80s and I have noticed a steady decline in the work ethic. I work in entertainment and when I started people worked long hours with minimal complaint. The hours were productive with little supervision. Contrast that by the current standard where no one wants to work past 40 hours a week and you have to watch them like a hawk. We need ten people for jobs that in the past took four people and the quality of the work isn't as good. When I started out most took the job out of love because the hours were long and the pay didn't properly compensate for the conditions. Now it's seen as more fun than working retail and pays better. This has also resulted in a steep drop in the skill level of workers since they don't tend to do the work as a hobby in their off hours. When I started off we were glad to have a job but now I find workers feel you are lucky to have them. Because of these problems I rarely hire anyone under 30 and generally try to hire people forty or better when I can. This is a sharp contrast to when I started out I would generally work with people in their 20s and 30s. A sharp contrast to is how workers start out. I'm in my 40s now and in my generation most had part time jobs by their early to mid teens. Now most get their first job after high school or college. Most want to start out the top and many expect it where as we always assumed we'd have to work our way up. There has been a massive shift in attitudes and over all it hasn't been positive. I'm dead wrong? Then why are we loosing the economic war? Our growth is flat where as China and India are exploding. There are many reasons for it and most don't involve worker productivity but it is a factor. I used to bristle at hearing the young people of WW II called the "Greatest Generation". Now I tend to agree. How many young people would put up with what they went through with everything being rationed and working for peanuts in a factory to help the war effort. People hardly complained about it and you were seen as unpatriotic if you did complain. Chime in with "Get off my lawn" all you want but it just makes my point. Imagine you were asked to give up your iPod, cell phone and computer because we were at war? I'm not talking Iraq I'm talking our country was directly threatened. Now imagine you were asked to work in a factory for minimum wage and got coupons for bread and milk and even things like tires and gas. Would you do it happily with little or no complaint or would you resist? The change in the last 50 years has been shocking. It's only been a hundred years since the earliest flights and cars were a novelty. Radio and TV are even younger and I was an adult when VHS tapes showed up and the internet as we know it began. Fifty years ago most of what are considered essentials didn't even exist. Hell most of it was rare twenty years ago. We are entering a new age where fuel, food and even water are going to be in short supply and technology actually can't save us because there simply aren't enough resources to go around. I fear for the future. I won't live to see the worst of it but many people on this forum will.
And the error is where?
The error is in number agreement. The phrase peers that doesn't should read peers that don't .