Should reading be a civil right?

[barfbag]

For the past few days I haven't been able to post and have been looking at some numbers of minorities and poor students not knowing how to read. Should learning how to read be a civil right regardless of race or economic background? It's absolutely disgusting to think that some schools could be held to lower standards simply because of discrimination against them for being in a low income area or having a high number of racial minorities. What do you guys think? My answer is none other than No Child Left Behind which actually requires more than just grades. We should also have competitive pay for teachers based on how well their students do on their yearly tests.

http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2011/09/19/17-scary-stats-on-minority-education-in-america/

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010015/indicator3_11.asp


It is absolutely disgusting what is going on in minority communities as far as education goes. What can be done to help them perform better?

[All Along The Watchtower]

Ah, the "acting white" myth.

[TNF]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

, i dunno, maybe the federal government should guarantee equal funding of schools, raise the minimum wage, promote unionization, and aggressively go after poverty. all of those things would do a lot more to address the racial gap in terms of education and opportunity than some silly idea about making reading a civil right

[Redalgo]

Poverty is the core problem as TNF implied, though I believe citizens should have a social right to primary and secondary education. Illiteracy is a symptom of deprivation and inadequate freedom.

[ElectionsGuy]

No. I think its the responsibility of education and the family to teach a person how to read. If they fail to do that, then that's their fault and life goes on. It shouldn't be an automatic right.

[Indy Texas]

Reading is a skill people acquire, not unlike learning to ride a bicycle or type on a computer keyboard. You can't really make it a "civil right" beyond saying people have the right to...read. (?)

I do believe there should be a codified right to an education. Ideally, we would amend the Constitution to explicitly guarantee the right to an education along the lines of Article 26 of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights: (my edits are in red)

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The edits to parts 1 and 2 are mainly to placate conservatives from getting all hysterical and shrieking about black helicopters and forcing kids to be gay atheists. Part 3 is unacceptably vague and will have to be clarified because otherwise you'd be unleashing a host of arguments for and against "school choice" as the debate exists in the United States.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The access to a comprehensive, qualitative education, up to the high school level at least, should be a civil right.

[Marnetmar]

The access to a comprehensive, qualitative education, up to the high school level at least, should be a civil right.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

The access to a comprehensive, qualitative education, up to the high school level at least, should be a civil right.

[barfbag]

I think it's funny how liberals don't want to do anything about racial inequality when it actually matters in terms of being successful and productive.

[barfbag]

The access to a comprehensive, qualitative education, up to the high school level at least, should be a civil right.

This is why no one should graduate high school without learning how to read. ^

[TJ in Oregon]

I'm having trouble seeing how we can make requiring someone to be able to do something a civil right. What, could they be arrested and charged for violating their right to read if a person is unable to?

[Link]

Not sure where you live barfbag but every single African American person I know knows how to read.  The only illiterate person I know is white.  I think most African Americans know how to read.  And I think most of us vote Democrat so we can improve things for ALL poor people.  We are not interested in Republican window dressing that covers up policies that are designed to just further enrich the Koch Brothers.

Children don't live at school.  If a child doesn't know how to read I'm pretty sure it is the function of the neighborhood and environment they live in.  Democratic policies that address transportation, healthcare, nutrition, housing, minimum wage, etc address those factors.  Having a simplistic view that a child doesn't know how to read simply because of what is happening at school is not serious analysis.

[barfbag]

Not sure where you live barfbag but every single African American person I know knows how to read.  The only illiterate person I know is white.  I think most African Americans know how to read.  And I think most of us vote Democrat so we can improve things for ALL poor people.  We are not interested in Republican window dressing that covers up policies that are designed to just further enrich the Koch Brothers.

Children don't live at school.  If a child doesn't know how to read I'm pretty sure it is the function of the neighborhood and environment they live in.  Democratic policies that address transportation, healthcare, nutrition, housing, minimum wage, etc address those factors.  Having a simplistic view that a child doesn't know how to read simply because of what is happening at school is not serious analysis.

Have you seen statistics on the numbers of people in different races who don't know how to read? It's absolutely awful. Before we address healthcare, nutrition, and wages, we should be addressing how to read. Being able to read helps people avoid poverty. Not a serious analysis? You think a more serious analysis is when teachers pass a student who doesn't know how to read?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

For the past few days I haven't been able to post

Mod review again? 

[Link]

Have you seen statistics on the numbers of people in different races who don't know how to read?

No.  Why don't you quote for me with a link that statistic.

Before we address healthcare, nutrition, and wages, we should be addressing how to read.

What are you basing this proclamation on?  Every bit of modern social science and medical research says the exact opposite.  At what age do you think the most connections are made and lost in the human brain?

Not a serious analysis? You think a more serious analysis is when teachers pass a student who doesn't know how to read?

I think starting your analysis on a kid's first day of school and ignoring the half decade before that isn't serious.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm having trouble seeing how we can make requiring someone to be able to do something a civil right. What, could they be arrested and charged for violating their right to read if a person is unable to?

You're thinking of negative rights.  A right to having an ability to read would be a positive right, so if Johnny can't read, a judge can order the state to spend more money getting him a tutor, and if the state doesn't have the money to pay the tutor, well the judge can order taxes to go up.  Basically, the language of positive rights takes the details of governing out of the hands of legislators and puts it in the hands of judges.  Of course, in those places where judges are elected, at least the people would be able to vote based on whether they think they their taxes will go up or down if they put them in office.

[barfbag]

Have you seen statistics on the numbers of people in different races who don't know how to read?

No.  Why don't you quote for me with a link that statistic.

Before we address healthcare, nutrition, and wages, we should be addressing how to read.

What are you basing this proclamation on?  Every bit of modern social science and medical research says the exact opposite.  At what age do you think the most connections are made and lost in the human brain?

Not a serious analysis? You think a more serious analysis is when teachers pass a student who doesn't know how to read?

I think starting your analysis on a kid's first day of school and ignoring the half decade before that isn't serious.

I've laid out enough links for people to gather information. People are graduating without knowing how to read. It's sad and something should be done. That's all.

[Lief 🗽]

Increase education funding, increase infrastructure/public transportation funding, free universal WiFi, raise the minimum wage, strengthen unions, increase access to healthcare, end the War on Drugs, end racist school policies (like prohibiting ethnic studies classes), etc.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Increase education funding, increase infrastructure/public transportation funding, free universal WiFi, raise the minimum wage, strengthen unions, increase access to healthcare, end the War on Drugs, end racist school policies (like prohibiting ethnic studies classes), etc.

GTFO commie

[ingemann]

True illiterates (beside mentally handicapped people) are rare to non existing in countries with universal education. What we have are functional illiterates, they can read, but they do so at a level where they can not understand a manual or a textbook. These people are hard to discover, and most can live productive lives in specific jobs. Discovering them are relative hard and forcing them to continue in school until they "can read" are counter-productive.

[MalaspinaGold]

I think it's funny how liberals don't want to do anything about racial inequality when it actually matters in terms of being successful and productive.

I don't think the term "right" is correct in this context. What you are describing is closer to "individual mandate".

If you solve the question of poverty, the problem of educational inequality will go away. That's what has pretty much happened in every single other industrialized country, which have much more liberal economic policies than us.

[barfbag]

I think it's funny how liberals don't want to do anything about racial inequality when it actually matters in terms of being successful and productive.

I don't think the term "right" is correct in this context. What you are describing is closer to "individual mandate".

If you solve the question of poverty, the problem of educational inequality will go away. That's what has pretty much happened in every single other industrialized country, which have much more liberal economic policies than us.

What is equality though. Equality can be thought of everyone having an equal right to earn their own way through life. How would you feel if someone took from you and gave it to someone else in exchange for a vote? Yes reading should also be a mandate. Don't you want to see our children learning how to read?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Equality can be thought of everyone having an equal right to earn their own way through life.

Does this mean you are in favor of having 100% inheritance taxes?

[MalaspinaGold]

I think it's funny how liberals don't want to do anything about racial inequality when it actually matters in terms of being successful and productive.

I don't think the term "right" is correct in this context. What you are describing is closer to "individual mandate".

If you solve the question of poverty, the problem of educational inequality will go away. That's what has pretty much happened in every single other industrialized country, which have much more liberal economic policies than us.

What is equality though. Equality can be thought of everyone having an equal right to earn their own way through life. How would you feel if someone took from you and gave it to someone else in exchange for a vote? Yes reading should also be a mandate. Don't you want to see our children learning how to read?

Your last question is a logical fallacy- ad hominem attack. I'll ignore it for now.
It is very hard to do more than give everyone equal opportunity (which is what we essentially do now). Every student has the right to have a good teacher, of course. However that does not mean every person will have equal chance of being able to read- since frequency of children's ability to read is strongly correlated to the frequency of parents reading to their children at a young age for instance. Also, universal pre-school. However, that gap between privileged and unprivileged children will always remain, so long as there is that disconnect about what can be done. Knowledge is power.

That is what most liberals on this board are recommending. What you want seems to be better standards at school. I agree with that. However, the gains will be minimal UNTIL we begin looking at kids early on, even before school starts. If parents have more time with their kids, and are empowered to read, that is what will save our education system.