http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14823087/?GT1=8506

"The nation’s leaders must be able to read; for those who follow, the ability should be strictly optional."

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

IMO. It is far more important that the electorate reads and has reading comprehension than for the elected. An ignorant electorate is easily manipulated by clever politicians. An ignorant politician has a short shelf life.

Bot

Guttenburg, with the gift of moveable typeset printing machines, gave the masses the ability to read in their vernacular language. This was the start of a dramatic power shift resulting in today's widespread middle class. If we didn't know how to read today, we would be just as susceptible to control by political elites as people in the middle ages were by the Church and nobility. Although you could also make a pretty strong argument that present media outlets have such a strict control over what we get to read, that we're just as susceptible to being controlled by propaganda.

I agree. Freedom and democracy depend on printing presses and the ability to read. In my experience, if a person can't read a complex passage in a text, they can't think a complex thought. (Unless there's just a brain wiring problem). So a decline in literacy indicates a decline in the pleasure of thinking complex thoughts and also a decline in the level of thought going into political choices.

There is, I think, a real danger afoot in our society. Complex thoughts require essays and books that are longer than can be comfortably read on the internet or a computer.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

You can order anything on the McDonalds menu by number, or simply pointing. However if you can't read 'one', 'five', and 'twenty' you might get ripped off when you get your change.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

it is a pretty unusual for all of us to agree but .....me too.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Oh well, then the educated people can get to together and enlighten the serfs, I mean citizens.


Like all trends tend to, maybe this one will reverse.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Mistress prefers brialle....hands on approach to things.

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

Knowledge is power,can't controvert that. But from what I've seen and heard of the current crop of "our nation's future"woe betide those whose lack of literacy is all of a piece with an intellectual,political and social apathy that defies belief!

Why should the young question the current values and political system when every material thing comes so easily to them,just use daddy's credit card,need a car? my folks'll get me one,hell,if the news bums me out I'll pop some X and zone out on my ipod.

A generalisation,granted,but a true one nonetheless.

My beloved Gramps{oh,no..not again,you say!} once gave me a valuable psychological lesson about people,and,by implication,the best way to deal with recalcitrant tradesmen.

We drove up to a construction site we had absolutely nothing to do with,none of the workers had ever seen us before...my Gramps walks up rapidly to the first man he sees,puts his arms on his hips and shouts"pick that f*cking scrap lumber up,goddamit,and pile it by the curb,NOW!!!"2 workers obeyed with alacrity. As we were walking away he adds"when are those f*ckin'headers goin'up?"

Me"why did they listen to you?they don't know you at all?"

"Sonny,I didn't give'em a choice,I gave 'em an order,you ask someone to do a task they got time to think about it,a direct order don't leave no time for thinkin'".

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Yeah, me, too. I think the leaders of this country at the beginning realized they needed educated citizens in order for democracy to work. That hasn't changed yet ,and it never will.

Anybody who disagrees can just look at some of the places in the world where education is rare to see just how democratic that country is.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

The problem now is how do you get people to read more? Public schools are simply falling short of this mark it seems. Although back when I was going through them they did force the kids to read quite a few books. But these days people want everything now, they rather watch something stupid on TV then read a 500 page novel.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Thrash them all soundly and send them to bed.

they force kids in my school to read books, you must read 4 books a semester within your lexile score area to get credit for the course... 10 mins mandatory in each period(4 total)

i turn in a book every frign week, while others struggle on goosebumps..

my lexile is about 1440 last i checked.. the highest in the school (well highest to the people tested) is the calculus teacher she scored an 1890, highest is a 2000... the average lexile in the school is around 600-750

Perhaps phrenology is not yet dead...

Somehow, Don, that doesn't surprise me at all. I never heard that term before, "lexile score." What is that?

Well, whatever it is, I have been impressed with your posts and your obvious thirst for knowledge. I hope you never lose that. Unfortunately, I didn't discover that until I was in my thirties.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles