Is America Becoming Illiterate?

What is illiteracy? Students discuss the topic and the potential ramifications of illiteracy as well as various ideas that may contribute to a decline in literacy.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello everybody, welcome back to episode two of MIA, Mindful Insight Always. And for today's topic is is America becoming illiterate or is it just lower education standards? And when people say America is illiterate, what does it really mean? I'm your host, Milo Fego, and I'm here with Andrea Martel. Alright, and Andrea, for my first question, I want to ask you, what does illiteracy mean to you? I think it's when people are not able to read properly, like it can be a passage, a story, just anything, and not being able to write properly as well. Like having difficulties. Yeah, and the Google definition of illiteracy is not being able to read or write. So I think that goes pretty hand in hand with what you said. And for this one, a lot of people confuse illiteracy for being dumb, but what do you think it is? Do you think there's a difference from functional illiteracy and illiteracy? Because functional means, hey, you're not that good at it, but you can still do it. Well, I want to say is necessarily dumb. It's just like some people are not capable of you know, like reading, writing, and it's not nothing wrong with that. I think it's just some people have like have the mindset of just doing things for like like in school. Some people just think they're there for 12 years and they're gonna leave and do nothing with it, but it's important for the rest of your life, for the journey you have ahead of you. Right. A lot of people just look at school as like, oh, my mom forces me to be here, but in reality it's really, really important for us. And I think they rely too much on the internet, on AI, on stuff like that, and then they just become just they don't care about school or nothing like that. And I don't think that's too important. I honestly agree with you because now it's really common to see people, especially at our school, like sometimes you see kids who really don't put a motivation into learning or anything, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're dumb. It just means that maybe they're not motivated, they don't see anything to do after their life. They don't see themselves like as capable of doing things, like they just rely too much on other sources instead of their own brain. Um, and do you think as a student here as time progressed, could we be doing better if we read more? Because I mean, when I remember when I was in elementary school, teachers would always tell me, like, hey, like, read a book outside of school, it helps you become a better reader. Do you agree with that? Yes. When I was little, I did not like reading at all. Like I hated reading, but now, like in middle school and high school, I've started to like like reading more books, and I actually see that they do make a change. Like, I've like a lot of vocabulary words in the books, I've started to understand more, and it just it overall helps, and it helps you become more open to the world, and especially if you read um nonfiction books, like you can know anything that's going on. It's like another type of like news. And else, yeah. I honestly agree with that too. I think I think reading really just helps expand your vocabulary a lot because I mean I've read books in my life that I have no idea what they're talking about, but as I search it up later and later, I maybe can read more books, and then I see the same word, I'm like, oh okay, well, this makes sense. I remember, I remember this. And for a little statistic, approximately 21% of US adults are functionally literate, meaning that they have difficult completing basic reading tasks. And that is honestly quite a lot. That is a lot. It's quite a bit of people, and we also have to put to think about it. Is it just an is it just because they have a learning disability or is it just because they were never taught properly? Well, I can say that some schools are not as focused, don't uh don't have much of a standard to of education as other schools. Like our school has a very high level of education and some other schools don't. And that's also I think it's not necessarily the schools. It's just that if teachers are trying to teach, obviously, and the students are not like taking responsibility to do their work, to try, and obviously they're gonna lose the teacher's gonna lose motivation to even try to teach. So they're just gonna just not gonna they're just not gonna even attempt to try to make the kid any better than what they are. And do you think school is funding the illiteracy? Like we were talking about, some schools have lower standards. Like we go to Ridgeview, so we know that our school is very, very has such a high importance in our education, and especially reading, that's just something that you're taught from such a young age. Yes. So I would personally say that our school does fund reading. What would you say? I would say it does, like it's a very, very good school, and they just put the a lot of importance in you just being a good learner. Right, and they also they put a lot of importance into our education. I mean, think about it. We go to the elementary side and there's this huge library that encourages you reading books. So many books, so many different gen genres. Yeah. And yeah, it's just like I think when I was little, I didn't expand my horizons to read any type of books because now I read anything, and anything is in, and I just love reading. It's good. It's it's honestly good for you. Like reading is the best pastime. I mean, even think about it when you're trying to go to bed and you don't want to be mindlessly scrolling on our phone like a lot of us do for hours and hours losing sleep, you're reading, and that like relaxes your mind, and you just you just fall right asleep.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

I mean, it's better than like scrolling. I mean, let's say 30 minutes of reading is so much better than like seven hours of scrolling on your phone mindlessly.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

And do you think that you were taught phonics and reading like in a good way? Like, who really put an emphasis to it? Like, which one of your teachers? Well, in elementary, I say Miss Hughes in fourth grade. She was such a good teacher. She like, I never liked to read. And we read, I remember it was Wicked of Oz. Wait, Wizard of Oz. Wizard Wizard and Wizard of Oz. No, it's because I'm thinking wicked, like glove. Okay, it was The Wizard of Oz. And I loved that book so much reading about Dorothy and the Wizard, and it was so it's so much fun. And she added such like good activities for me to be like to keep you motivated to be reading involved in the book. It was it was nice. It was nice. I honestly don't think I remember a teacher. I don't remember any books that I read in elementary, but I do remember, no, I don't. But I do remember Miss King, which is my second grade teacher, putting a big emphasis on learning about I would say history in a lot of cultures. I would also misuse we read holes like have you have you? I remember I would have never seen the movie, but the book. It was such a good book. I remember that Miss Beaston was trying to read it to us, but she thought it was a little too long for the amount of time we had left. But I remember it was like a bunch of kids, right? Yeah, and they were they had to dig holes, and there's like a whole pass to Stanley Yann up. It's so good. Yeah, and then middle school We all remember the first one.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

What was the best book we read in the sixth grade? The Outsiders, yes. Hello? How do you not remember the book?

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Narnia, I also love Narnia. The Witch in the Wardrobe. It was so good. It was a good book. And Miss Lavizio always put some really good activities with her. And Miss Merc too. I remember so many good books. We did a lot of good books. And I like how we also got older when we were in Gainey's class in eighth grade. He gave us our own reading projects. I remember I read, oh, what was it called? It was like, what did I what did I do? Something like that. It was just about this girl. In the school that she that some guy would like come into her school and he would like his story was not straight and he was really smart. Something like that. Like some cheating. I don't know. It was honestly that I really recommend that book. No, but I really did love doing independent reading, and I still I still think independent reading is the way to go. Yes. Especially if your school's not giving you enough, well, high of an education. You could just read out and just it's there's so many more options. And would you say that this school gave you a good foundation for reading? Yes, a very good foundation for reading. Like I've it was they they actually give us so much, like um So much that we don't even notice. Because we just take it for granted. Because think about it, we've been here our whole entire life. That we think that's the stand, like just there's any other school is supposed to give us that, but it's not. Right, because like a lot of people, let's say for example, they live this is going a little a little off the topic, but a lot of people think that this school was like, oh, it's kind of meh and everything. It's because it's everything they've all they've known their whole entire life, and then they change to another school, let's say Ridge, Four Corners, Keynes City, and then they realize we have it a lot different here. Not throwing any shade or nothing, but like just telling the truth. Yeah, it's not to any shade or anything, it's just that a lot of people thought that, oh, maybe this school like sucks or something, but it's because they don't know anything better, and then they realize, like, wow, this school's actually good. I mean, think about it. Last year, how many kids did you see come back? A lot. I there was a lot of students. There was a lot of kids, and a lot of kids that haven't made it back still regret going back to another school because it's so different here, and we put so much emphasis into education. Like they take it for granted. They do, they take it for granted a lot. And one thing too is like here, teachers into the smaller schools, teachers really get to know you want to really act knowledge. It's such a small school that you just have a student-teacher relationship, and it's it just elevates your learning. I would say it really does. Like, I mean, think about it. Your teachers have known you, and even past, like, I'm like, do you not go to elementary school and your teachers like say hello to you? Like, they remember you, and it's been like years, it's been five years since we've been in elementary school. Ms. Guzman always, she she's always. Oh my gosh, I TA for her, and she always asks me about you and Victor all the time. Now, not I don't want us to sound like moms or anything, but do you believe that technology has made us more lazy? Yes. Don't even get me started on that. People have taken the existence of AI and they just use it for granted, like anything. It could be this the it can be this the easiest topic and they're using AI to find how to do it. And I think that's that is what is making America so illiterate. They're focusing so much on technology, AI, using Chat GPT to find um other like answers that they don't notice that you have it all in your brain. If you put it really put your mind to it, you can excel. Like it can be, yeah. What do you think? I honestly think the same. I do believe that people I mean, I I would say I guess sometimes if you're really, really stuck, or honestly, to be honest, Chat GPT is a really good explainer for like study guides and stuff like that. But I think if you're genuinely just copying and pasting everything into co-pilot, Chat GPT goth, what are you learning out of it? And then think about it. Imagine our elementary teachers seeing us right now. Imagine they saw us shoot on a test. How would they feel? They taught us to they exactly they taught us to use our brains to always make sure, look for the context clues, what can help you, and to not give up so easily. They learn us the b they they taught us the basics, like anything, it could be context clues, finding what um to find the answer like in the passage, look for the main idea, the theme, and now we don't even use it. No, and a lot of kids, I remember, well, Miss Sly last year. I remember she would tell us before FAST exam, she would always be like, Whatever you do, always cross out what you think it isn't. Because it will always put your question like answers into a shorter bracket, and it's so much better. Yes, and I'm glad you talked about the fast because you see all these students getting good grades in their in their test, in their assignments, homeworks, but when they get to a fast assessment, they take It'll show you a literal one. Mm-hmm. The PSAT, the SAT, anything. The PRR. I mean, think about it. Some kids literally were like confident about the perk, taking the PRR, and they didn't pass it. No, and this is very important to excel in life. Like you need to be literate. Like, it's not something you get to pick, it's something you need. Right. And honestly, it is pretty sad that there's 21% of Americans who don't know how to read, but then we also especially there's a lot of people here. And we're talking about adults, by the way. We're not talking about children with maybe learning disabilities or stuff. We are talking about full-grown adults here. Yeah. And I would honestly say, I TA for a over at the elementary side, and I work with four teachers, which is Miss Guzman, Miss Kennedy, and Miss Rodriguez. I would typically work for them. And recently, the other day, I actually did go to do service, and she was just talking to me about how sad it is because her class is not excelling a lot. And when I ask her why, and she's like, because these kids want me to give them the information always. They never want to look for information themselves. They always, it just She said it's just a level of laziness that she's never seen in her life, and she really contributes it to the fact that you know, we can't blame it all on and yeah. There's also probably some parents in life who just will not let their kids think for themselves. They don't put enough like emphasis on learning. Like, they don't care if their their student got no, if their kid got an F, if they got, if they failed something. Oh, and my mom as a teacher too. They are oh some parents are always so quick to say, why are you doing this wrong? Why are you doing this wrong? And then you have to explain to them, like, hey, this is not what I'm doing wrong. It's that your child expects, for example, a spelling test. Your child is not studying the spelling words. I remember I grade spelling tests in third grade, and I tell them, I was like, I get zeros. I get zeros. I was helping grade some papers, like one out of ten, and you're already in third grade. Like, this is I'm obviously I wasn't like, oh my gosh, but it's still crazy that people don't know how to spell. And another thing is that the other day I also did grade some literally match. It was about A through G, let's say, and it was match. I caught a couple kids with zeros. Really? Yeah. Oh my gosh. And I just don't like it. They don't care anymore. No, they don't. And then I would ask her, like, what's up? And she's like, Oh, these kids don't want to use the answer. And by the way, she also tells me that these kids are cheating in the third grade. First of all, how are you kidding you in the third grade? Exactly. Everything is paper-based when you're at elementary school. Y'all are just shameless. Already in the third grade learning how to use AI and everything.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

I don't even know how to use a phone in third grade.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Hello?

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Instead of using AI to like try to find the answer, maybe like try to use AI to see how you could study better because like these kids, I'm sick and tired of grading these papers.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Like, okay, don't get me wrong, it's not everybody, but there are some kids that I'm really concerned about. And what's so sad is, I mean, it used to be a really small amount, let's say two kids, but I've had teachers tell me that it's a pretty big amount now. And also I would say that if teachers from lower grades, well, no, they have noticed that the kids don't try anymore, so they're not gonna enforce a lot. And then they keep going moving up to grades, and then every year is just lazy and more lazy and more lazy. So other teachers like they on they just like give up because if the they're not learning the basics and they're gonna have to learn it in the other class, then why are they even gonna like do anything? Why are they even gonna attempt to exactly and I think what's something that kind of sad too is as we get older, well, this is true, and maybe it's not that sad, but we have to become more independent of ourselves. We know we rely so much, and you just have to rely on yourself. Like it gets to a point. Like, I remember last year, I feel like last year I would rely on my teachers quite a bit, but now after the PERT and after I started dual enrollment classes, it has showed me that I am the one person responsible for myself and nobody else. It it happened so quickly. Like we were one day we were in ninth grade and then tenth grade we already have dual enrollment, we have a lot of assignments, you have to prioritize your assignments. You can't like late work is not accepted. That late work, oh my gosh. Thankfully, so far, I've actually not turned in anything late. I think I turned in one thing late, and they took off like 20 points.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

And honestly, too, like if you don't turn something in, it'll lower your grades. You'll get zero.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Oh my gosh, so it's really bad. So you really have to put a prioritization to it. And same with homework. I remember last year, I would go home and not do anything. Either I would all my time management was so bad, and now it's horrible. And also, I think the the the most part that gave me a sense of college was my AP class.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

And to be honest, we all we were on a call the night before it happened. Do you want to talk about what we did? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

We studied for like four hours, five hours just on FaceTime the whole time. No, I remember I remember each of us was assigned with like a certain topic to do something.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Chapter four. Chapter four temporized.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Oh my gosh, I remember that. But to be honest, when we were we were talking about technology, but I think honestly, technology really helped us on that one. Yeah, it did. It was it was but we used it wisely, obviously. Right, and obviously, I mean, you remember the exam? We could not do anything, we couldn't even talk. Well, obviously we can't talk to each other, but there was such an emphasis on if you talk to this person, your thing is gonna get cancelled, and AP is so important. Time limit, it just oh it was bad. I could like this it it stressed you out to make it stressed me out so bad. I could not focus. And just seemed like the the clock tick, I couldn't on the clock. The clock tick.

unknown 17:51

Wait, nice.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Yeah, I know, but um what I'm saying is I remember I remember doing it and my worst fear was what if my time runs out and I don't even notice? Yes. I'm glad it didn't happen. Um, our next question is do you think technology books are good or bad? Technology books? Yeah, like Kindles, for example. Like I love my Kindle. You love your Kindle? Yes, I love my Kindle. I think, I mean, I for me it kind of just depends. Really? I feel like at school I always I don't know, I don't want to look like a bum, like like scrolling on my phone, so I always prefer like a paper book. And something there's just nothing better than sitting on your bed reading your little paperbook. I kind of do like my like on my phone. I can download books and just read them off. I personally like reading, it just really depends because at night I'd rather be holding my phone and read or use my Kindle because I'm then turn on my books. You have to be sitting up. No, no, no. I like I like laying down on the side, reading my book.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

I'll be having like blanket over your feet. Yes, I'll put a water bottle next to you. Everything, everything. Yes. I honestly I feel like it just depends for me. I mean, if I really find like I like reading articles, guys, I promise I'm not a grandma, but I really like reading articles. I like reading like and I like scrolling on my phone and just like you know how they in the articles they like recommend similar ones? Yes. That's what I like doing.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

I do like I like watching the news and also reading like crime crime scenes. Crime stuff, yes. I do the you just me read like watching a 30-minute video on what happened with just a murder or something. It's yeah, and you're learning things, and it's it doesn't necessarily doesn't have to be necessarily like reading something. You can also watch, like watching and you being like looking at a video, you can learn a lot of things. Like it's not like I can tell people I don't want to use a paper, I don't use anything or I wanna just watch, watch YouTube. YouTube has so many other things that you can be doing, and it just helps you learn. And I guess honestly, for illiterate people too, it's easier to exactly because you're not reading, you're just there's so many options, it's just at them as a person that they don't want to do anything, they're not motivated enough.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

And I'm not, and we're not saying that every illiterate person is like this, no, because let me tell you, I know some illiterate people who will not put the effort even if you pay them a million bucks. No shade.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

No shade.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

And I mean, our school, let's do let's do our school and comparing schools. We both have friends that go to different schools. Yes. And are schools doing enough to encourage us students to do reading outside of school? Yes. I mean, I know our school is because I mean Dr. Gainey himself, we had a 10-week program where we had to read our own personal book outside of school. And right now we're reading a book like technically by ourselves, and it's just I I like the book. Yes, I do like the book. Thank you, Mr. Gainey. Lord of the Flies is honestly kind of good. And I like how short it is. Like it's short, but it says so much. It's like one of those books that you can you cannot keep turning, like you need to keep turning the page because it's like when a chapter ends, you're left on a clip finger and you just want to read more and more and more and more. Yeah. Yeah, somebody need to take that book away from me.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

I also think, like, from my friends, we're not gonna say any schools here, but my some of my friends have told me that their English teachers put no influence on reading.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Don't care. Like, what are we gonna do? And the teachers just sit down, sit down. I'm not blaming too much on the teachers because I'm sure there was a cause for the teacher to be like not care anymore. Right, there's probably some students who probably just disrespected that. And nobody's gonna want to teach people who don't want to be taught. It's just as easy as that. And I sh they've told me that they don't their teachers just sit down, they just um assign something, they don't teach nothing. And right now she's struggling on it can be anything. She's struggling. Yes. Like her history teacher, she's taking a peak of, I think. And no, she doesn't teach nothing, nothing. I think I honestly think it's really rough, also, because imagine us who are. Not illiterate people. Imagine illiterate people having to go through that. I mean, not only is reading and writing super difficult for you, but your teacher, let's say. And becoming so independent so early. Well, well, yeah, I would say you're becoming more independent earlier. And I would honestly say that uh illiteracy is a type of learning disability. And you know, as you get older and everything, it's a it's a little bit more complicated, especially if you have to do things on your own time. Exactly. Compared to having a teacher always guide you, which also brings me to another point, which is it's so important to have that background help, like para paraprofessionals. My mother was a paraprofessional, and my brother used to help, and it helped them so much. Like it's that extra support that these kids have. He relied so much on me as a like me, on her sister, that he just didn't focus on you know, having the motivation to learn things himself, do things himself. And then when he got the para to help him, he like he became completely dependent. Just complete life. Yes, it was so good. It was and it honestly is nothing more beautiful than seeing a child like struggle. Because I remember my mom, she works with children, not exactly literacy, but children with speech impediments, autism, and stuff like that. And I think there's nothing more rewarding in life knowing that you've helped these children get motivated. And having a teacher that focuses on that, having a teacher that focuses on helping other students is so important too. I honestly think that teachers are the backbone to all of us. I mean, we all complain, let's be honest, that we're oh my god, 12 years in school. Number one, I'm in the 10th grade, and I have two years left, and I'm scared. I don't want to leave. Because my teachers have put such a strong backbone in. And I could honestly tell you one teacher from my middle school all the way to my high school years that has really stood out to me. And honestly, one of them would be Dr. Ding. Literally, he he is such, he put such an emphasis, and you know, he's just one of those teachers who really cares about your education. He wants you to learn, like he wants you to excel in. Exactly. And what I think another thing is he's almost kind of personalizes some things to you and to your he learns things about you and he has like a relationship with you, and it's so much it's so much better to learn. And it just, I don't know, it allows like in eighth grade, there were some things that happened, and he taught me to be so much more like like to not think take things for granted and be wise with what I do, and now that I have him again, it's like like yes, I'm finally understanding what you mean. And honestly, I've I had Mr. Gaini too in my eighth grade year, and I think one of my favorite things is that you really can tell that he is a teacher who cares about you. And he has so much things, so many things going on in his life. Like he has to grade dual enrollment papers, he has five other classes he has to teach, and he has the time to help you. He literally had the time to get a doctorate and write books and grade papers. Like, I don't know how he does it, but yeah. Shout out to Mr. Skinny. Shout out to Mr. Skinny. He got it, and also just other teachers, Miss Merc, for example. I don't, and I think we're talking a little bit about reading here, but also Miss B, my seventh grade teacher. She was such an amazing teacher, he explained it so perfectly. Always. She was and she was also one of those persons that's kind of tailored to you. And honestly, I'm so blessed for that lady. Honestly, shout out to Miss B too, because you were such an amazing teacher. And honestly, I really miss that about you. And currently, too, algebra 2. We all know algebra 2 is probably no easy work, but Mr. Anderson, he got he got me covered. He knows what to do. Yeah. I love it. I'll see Mr. Endel too. Mr. Endel, I took Mr. Endel's geometry class last year, and it was also really good. He was. He explains it so perfectly, and I like how he allows you to have a lot of work for you to understand. Yeah. I think, yeah, and that that's another thing. Work. I feel like a lot of people take work for granted. They're like, oh, so much work. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. But honestly, like when we think about work, it's like the I mean, it's it helps us understand things on a deeper concept. I would say that for physics this year. Oh my gosh, yes. That's a great point. Physics is so much harder. Like, like when she's teaching a lesson, she's just like saying a bunch of things. I'm like, okay. But then you get that worksheet, and then you can even ask her for help, and she'll come over and she will explain it so perfectly. Right. She explains it so perfectly and she makes you understand. And we do get a lot of worksheets there, but they help so much. Right. And I would honestly say it is quite a bit of work, but it honestly, I like physics. I think physics is fun. I do, I really like physics. And I also think that her explaining it, and just it there's nothing more like fun in life than like you're looking at this and like, dang it, I was struggling with this two days ago, and now look at me here. I can understand it. You're laughing at yourself because it was like, it's so easy, and you just did it. And all you just needed was to reach out for a little help and do those worksheets. I swear, people are like, oh, this isn't for a grade, I'm not doing it. Uh no, this is practice. Hello. Because in the test, then you're failing the test. Right. And that'll and that brings us back to our other point, cheating part. Work helps you. There's I don't think there's an exam that my teacher has ever given me that I can. Because how do you expect to pass a test if you're not putting like you're not doing any of this? Right. Because the work literally like is helping you for the test. Like you're you're not gonna tell me that you're not gonna do a work on, let's say, Christmas and then take an exam and cheat on it. Because I mean, maybe if you would have done your Christmas work, like you must have said. I think also maybe that some students they see that the teacher doesn't do like anything fun. Oh, that is such an annoying thing I could say. And I think honestly, I think it's on it's before you turn into the ninth grade, like before you become a tenth grader, because I'm not gonna I'm gonna be honest, my teacher, I would say something like that about my teacher sometimes, but we all I also just remember sometimes that I have to take it like slow on them because I mean these these people have a lot of and you're already in high school, like you should be at least a little bit independent. Like they say the teacher doesn't do anything fun, she just gives out word, blah blah blah blah blah like you look for things that can make it fun. Watch a video on it, do I don't know, make it make it fun, like literally and another thing is it's illiterate people. Imagine how they feel about this. They can't they can't read it or get it done, or and it's just so hard for them. But I honestly do think it's really nice that some people really try their hardest on work. And for one of my final questions is does American culture even put reading as a main thing? That's a great question. I think they do, but they don't. Exactly. It's a yes and a no, to be honest. Like it's just in the middle. Because I remember I remember Mr. Blanchard telling this to our AP World History Teacher. He told us shout out to me. Mr. Blanchard told us a lot of things. But he also talked about how 20 years ago, uh a three on the exam, like imagine a fast, a three on a fast exam is like a one now. And that shows how much education has has lowered. It's a lot. Yeah, they they are lowering the standards a lot more. Like I remember, I think it was the fast, the fast, the last year before it was harder for me to pass, and then the one after it was so much easier. Oh my gosh, fresh, I mean, I mean eighth grade year, eighth grade's last fast. I got a five on it, which was really easy. Last year's last one, I got a five on it. Any, I don't know if I'm learning, I don't know if I'm a genius or anything, but I do know that it's kind of sad, but it's becoming a little slightly easier. But we can't put the blame to the government sometimes. Well, yes, we can. But what I'm meaning is sometimes the teachers too, like I have seen and heard from quite a couple elementary school teachers that they're reading like Homer, they're reading stuff like that in the fourth grade. They're these kids are gonna be so advanced. But even the Odyssey. I'm like, I read the Odyssey last year in my freshman year, and I thought it was a little difficult. It it was like so these kids are gonna be like, I don't like like old English, it's so difficult. I cannot like it. It's so difficult to understand. No, Dao Shalang. I'm like mm-mm. No, reading Hamlet too, it was so difficult for me. Oh my gosh, Hamlet. But like after I understood it, it was I understood it too, but it was difficult. It was and we also recently did um The Raven in I I like the Raven. I like the Raven, but it was also old English. It was a little bit difficult to understand because a lot of things had a lot of symbolism. And I also like that they're teaching old English earlier because we're by the time right, like these kids in the fourth grade that are reading the Odyssey, by the time they get to 10th grade, they might as well start speaking in straight old English because they know all of it. Exactly. I think that's really important. That is I don't think I learned poetry early enough. Early enough, like third grade, I don't think I read anything. I think it was like very easy. And then in my fast, I got poetry, and I was that was my lowest of the I think that was my lowest school category. Yeah, category of the school, and yeah. But now like it's it's very it's very nice. It's very nice, it's very nice. Yes. I honestly do think, and recently talking a little bit on the government side, we did shut the department of education down earlier in the year. And I'm not really I'm not a teacher, so I'm not really sure how much that affects my students. I'm sure it's a lot though. I'm sure it's a lot, but I think one thing that I will say is really awesome of teachers is no matter well, they did do like shut the department down, but some teachers really they still try their hardest. Exactly. And I can everybody knows that teachers don't get paid as well and as anybody else, and they still have the motivation to teach to teach kids to excel in life, and they're just I don't like that kids are taking it for granted, and I can say they're illiterate and stuff like that, but to be honest, if you put your mind to it, it will it will get done. Exactly. And especially I feel like another problem is with our topic of the dis of this podcast is illiteracy. Think about it, they shut the department down, fundings for illiteracy. What are we gonna do? Are we just accepting the fact that some people should not be able to read? Like that's horrible. And also with another thing, cursive. They're not teaching kids cursive anymore. Except no, I never got taught cursive. Did you? Yeah, Miss Bregman, my fourth grade teacher, she taught me cursive and Miss Beeson, my fifth grade teacher. I didn't know it. I obviously did not because my mom writes cursive, so I just have to learn how to read and write it. Oh, my Katrina doesn't know how to read cursive. Remember?

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Oh yes, at the party on Saturday, she was struggling to read it. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

But I honestly, that is another thing that's super duper important. Reading cursive is super duper important. That was the like basis of our like writing, right? It was cursive and then that's when it changed to I remember, and I also remember like a lot of teachers telling me like when they were kids that they taught them cursive curse because it's it's cursive, you don't pick up the pencil, and it's a lot easier to write. And then they got taught like your regular writing that we do now. I would say I think I would say in essence, what should we do about this? About cursive? No, about like everything, like learning and everything. What should be done? I think they there should be like okay. I wouldn't say you know how they're they're banning phones in middle school. Yeah, and they'd put them like in like a little socket or something like that. Yeah, I would say that's good, but they the kids that I've seen in social media, like they put phone cases inside Inside these little like pouches to like. How much do you not want to learn that you're putting a phone case instead of your own phone inside the pocket? Like it's just for seven hours. You're learning for seven hours. You're there is no distractions exactly. I think that's to be honest, I don't necessarily think it's like necessary for our school. Because I They put an emphasis on like don't use your phone in class. On learning, so you're actually learning something you don't even check to look at, like don't even look at your phone. I never honestly I keep I'm I would say I'm a kind of well-disciplined person. I would honestly say I don't really look at my phone unless I have all my work done, or it's like the last minute of class where I'm packing up and that's it. I don't look at my phone. In my opinion, I think to make it better, I think we just need to have more funding and more support. That's about it. So would you say this is a would you say this is a mindful, insightful talk? Yes, it was. Did you have fun? Yes, I enjoyed it a lot. That is so great to hear, and I think this is gonna be our wrap up of today's episode. So, who am I here with again? Andrea Mortal. And my name is Mia Lofago. Thank you guys so much for listening, and we'll catch you on episode three. Bye bye.