Saturday, December 17, 2005

Literacy of Recent College Grads

It's hard to know if these sorts of exams have statistical validity. Also there is always the phenomena of the older generation to criticize the younger as not being up to the task. This has been going since the dawn of recorded history. Even still one gets the feeling that a college degree is being debased of late. A story from the NY Times on literacy of recent college grads:

"The average American college graduate's literacy in English declined significantly over the past decade, according to results of a nationwide test released yesterday."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/education/16literacy.html?incamp=article_popular&pagewanted=print

Small town life for an ex-suburbanite

I remember this life all too well, hours spent in a car every day. I grew up and worked for a while in suburbia. I'm grateful for life in a small university town, where at most I spend 20 minutes in car. A NY Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/national/18FRISCO.html?pagewanted=print

"I can't count on him being home before 7 o'clock," she said. "Even if he leaves the office at 5:30, he's not here until 7. This morning, he left at 5:30 and it took him 35 minutes. But if it's raining outside, he can count on a two-hour drive."

Friday, December 16, 2005