Obituary: Literacy Skills, Age 5,000+ Years

Literacy Skills, born in Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago, has died a slow and painful death.  After an active and full life that brought us the Bible, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Jane Austen and others, Literacy Skills has died at the hands of those who didn’t understand that having computers doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have knowledge.  For generations, students took spelling tests and were taught to write with proper usage of grammar.  They held books in their hands and grew up knowing how to turn pages.  Unknowingly, they increased connections in the brain and honed fine motor skills by being able to write both in print and cursive.  In a slow and painful process, it was determined that computers could do the thinking for us.  The importance of having knowledge for the sake of knowing and growing took a back seat to obtaining federal funding through test taking.  The final blow occurred on Inauguration Day 2013 when a TV reporter on a major news network said, “Yous guys end” when referring to a location in a parade.

Literacy Skills is survived by Keyboard Skills, Touch Screen and Standardized Testing & her son Teach To-Test.

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Read more articles and to learn about early childhood workshops for parents and early childhood professionals at www.helpingkidsachieve.com.                                                                

For information about The Early Learning Center of Temple Shalom or Temple Shalom Religious School, contact Cindy Terebush at eddirector@templeshalomnj.org or call 732-566-2961.