California Schools and Teachers
Are the California schools and teachers making the grade in regard toilliteracy' Illiteracy is a problem of hidden proportions. For example, theSan Diego Business Journal recently quoted the San Diego's Council onLiteracy and pointed out that 20% of the United States population isfunctionally illiterate and 26% in the San Diego County. So are theteachers missing the point or are there some other underlying problems' The entire educational system is being severely tested asadministrators point out that smaller class sizes create a need for moreclassrooms and teachers. These demands for more teachers force the systemto hire many unqualified individuals. "In terms of sheer statistics, thestate is a national leader. State enrollment is adding about 100,000students each year, meaning that California will be home to one-fifth ofall US students in a few decades. As a result of this growth, an estimated300,000 teachers will be needed here during the next decade - even as thenation is in the middle of a teacher shortage." (Unknown, "As Californiaoverhauls schools, America watches for lessons") With those statistics, I feel that qualified teachers for the most
" (Unknown, "As California overhauls schools, Americawatches for lessons") In conclusion, I feel that the California school system and themajority of its teachers do not adequately handle the issue of illiteracy. The current system has two options with theilliterate students. They had abandoned phonics when the state directed them to usewhole-language teaching. That being said, a qualifier is definitelynecessary in the California school system that can distinguish if a persontruly cannot read or write but is a fully functional English speakingperson from a person who has not learned the English language. When the policy statesthat the system must perform in this way or that, teachers can notadequately prepare or are usually not properly trained to teach the newideas. And with the system under such stress, evenif a teacher discovers the problem, his or her hands may be tied with fewoptions on getting the proper help with the illiteracy problem. One exampleis the distinction for teachers providing new readers with a phonicmethodology or a whole language methodology. Also, if the political structuredoes not take a stance on illiteracy, then the schools will focus onwhatever did become a mandate. Butthe state has left little time to teach teachers how to do this, officialssay. This problem will continue to escalate when the demand for new teachersincreases. California does have theunique problem of many Spanish and Asian speaking individuals who arelabeled as illiterate because they show familiarity with another a firstlanguage other than English. " (Unknown, "As California overhauls schools, America watchesfor lessons") Unless new political mandates address the problem of creating newqualified teachers in time for the expected shortage, teachers will be lessprepared to assist struggling readers. Anunqualified teacher may not be able to make those distinctions. Instead, it has raised the number of school days teachers must spendwith children. Illiteracy is defined as a person having little to no education; ormore specifically not being able to read or write.
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