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CNN.com Asks If America Is Dumber Than A 16 Year Old In The Most Depressing Article Ever

by Jon Bershad | 1:50 pm, June 17th, 2010

» 20 comments

When I read on CNN.com that they had an article in which analysts describe how President Obama’s speech was written at a 10th-grade reading level and, therefore, went “over the heads” of most Americans, I was all ready to be outraged. How dare CNN besmirch the education level of my beloved US of A. However, when I read the article, I found it surprisingly interesting. After that, I found it depressing. Very, very depressing.

Admittedly, the basic thesis of the article is ridiculous. CNN contacted a “language guru” to rate the president’s speech compared to the grade-based reading levels educators use. It found that the speech rated at a 9.8th-grade level (Aw, 9.8th grade. That one was my favorite! I still remember taking little Susie Johnson to the 9.8th Grade Formal) and that was the reason why it was poorly received. Sorry, CNN, but there were many things wrong with that speech and the number of big words wasn’t exactly one of them.

However, the idea of rating presidential speeches that way interested me as did the comparisons that the analyst, Global Language Monitor president Paul J.J. Payack, made to Obama’s other speeches.

“At a micro level, the average word in the speech contained 4.5 letters, a bit longer than is typical for the former constitutional law professor, Payack said.
Obama’s nearly 10th-grade-level rating was the highest of any of his major speeches and well above the Grade 7.4 of his 2008 “Yes, we can” victory speech, which many consider his best effort, Payack said.”

As interesting as those stats are, I just couldn’t accept Payack’s theory that the speech was too “smart” for most Americans. In a great write-up of the CNN piece, Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey found the actual data and had some strong words to say about the findings.

“It’s not easy to find data on the American average reading level. A 1993 study put it somewhere between 8th and 9th grade reading level, which would have been just short of the 9.8 level found by CNN’s expert. That seems rather low, however, when the US high school graduation rate was 69.2% in 2006. Granted, not everyone who graduates from high school has a reading level commensurate with the 12th grade, but one has to assume that they do better than middle-school rankings in order to get a high-school diploma.

If they don’t, doesn’t that indict the education system? We have steadily increased federal spending on education through the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. If all that gets us is an electorate who mysteriously can’t comprehend a speech given at a writing level equivalent to that of an average 15-year-old kid, then we’ve spent money on the wrong things, and let the wrong people benefit from it.”

I expected easy outrage from the CNN piece and I didn’t get that. I also didn’t get what the writer intended (an explanation for the Obama speech’s failure). What I did get, however were some very depressing facts about America’s literacy level.

Maybe I’ve become desensitized to the images of dying, oil covered birds after 60 whole days of them, but the idea that the average education level of Americans is stuck in middle school seems, to me, to be an equal-sized catastrophe as the disaster in the Gulf.

(via Reddit)

barack obama, BP Oil Disaster, CNN, CNN.com, Gulf oil disaster, Literacy, Oil Disaster, oil spill

Puter Boi

Jon?
Now I am really depressed.
Is it Happy Hour yet?
Toshiba2

Interesting!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathy-Shaidle/879680390 Kathy Shaidle

Uh, Jon?

Newspapers have been written at the 7th grade level for decades.

I thought that was common knowledge. Especially if you’re a writer at something called “Mediaite”…
Jon Bershad

Kathy, I did know that. Since this post never mentioned newspapers, why did you think I didn’t?
What I didn’t know were the actual stats on the national average until I read the Hot Air piece.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Kam-Fet/572005492 Kam Fet

How do you make Americans watch CNN?
CNN: Call them dummys!
Liberty Banned

If this is the case, I blame government schools.
disgusted

We have been operating ounder the “dumber” system – for years.
“government schools”..??.. (Unionized!)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathy-Shaidle/879680390 Kathy Shaidle

Now you’re being pedantic. Can you not make the simple leap from knowing about the newspaper reading level to NOT being surprised by the President’s speech’s reading level?

Your own failure of imagination and lack of nimblemindedness should “depress” you as much as other people’s stupidity. Then again, you went to the same American schools everyone else did, no?

All this stuff is just common knowledge and has been for years. Nothing surprising about it, and it’s been depressing most of us for a while.
PureFreedom

How do you think Obama got elected. If you look at the numbers he had 89% of all high school dropouts votes for him.
Obama had leads over 85% in all low income and low educated areas in America during the election. He still holds the highest approval ratings in these cities and areas that have the highest crime rate and lowest school scores.
Jim R

That’s one of the main reasons Republicans keep getting elected by poor, uneducated schmucks so easily smitten by the flag and the Good Book while being robbed blind. Watch Leno’s sidewalk interviews sometime and Europe’s condescension becomes entirely understandable.

Sir may I have another?! By the way, what’s the rating of Obama’s verbose genius predecessor’s speeches. Off the charts according to Fox so it must be true!
sarainitaly

Obama Speaks At Lower Grade Level Than Bush, CNN Says He’s ‘Too Professorial’

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/06/17/obama-speaks-lower-grade-level-bush-cnn-says-hes-too-professorial#ixzz0rAP1nn2H
sarainitaly

Jim R says:
June 17, 2010 at 7:34 pm
That’s one of the main reasons Republicans keep getting elected by poor, uneducated schmucks – Like Alvin Greene?

“Sir may I have another?! By the way, what’s the rating of Obama’s verbose genius predecessor’s speeches. Off the charts according to Fox so it must be true!” –

Obama’s Flesch-Kincaid grade level score of 8.8 for his first State of the Union Address was the fourth lowest score since FDR’s first Address in 1934.

Bush averaged a Flesch-Kincaid score of 10.4 across his seven State of the Union Addresses – or nearly two full grades higher than Obama’s speech. Bush’s speeches also averaged 2.4 more words per sentence than Obama, at 19.0.

In other words, the text of George W. Bush’s speeches are expected to be understandable (in written form) by an average sophomore in high school, whereas Obama’s speech should be understandable by a junior high school student.

Interestingly, George W. Bush’s 10.4 Flesch-Kincaid score was also higher than several of his predecessors, including Ronald Reagan (10.3), Bill Clinton (9.5), and his father George H.W. Bush (8.6). [...]

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/06/17/obama-speaks-lower-grade-level-bush-cnn-says-hes-too-professorial#ixzz0rAPtaOnR
http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

I know zip from reading levels but I do know sarainitaly is one of the best researchers on the intertubes.

That said, I understand the point of the article and this post But, quite frankly, speeches are made to be heard, not read. Once upon a time they were read when posted by the town crier, now we listen with ears and eyes. Sara please do some research if you have a moment. ;-) I’m in eLearning and we know that it’s been proven that most people retain more of what they hear and see visually/verbally than they ever do reading. Combine all three senses and you have the best learning experience, therefore a video with voice and captions or callouts.
Jackie_Treehorn

Jim R says:
June 17, 2010 at 7:34 pm
That’s one of the main reasons Republicans keep getting elected by poor, uneducated schmucks so easily smitten by the flag and the Good Book while being robbed blind. Watch Leno’s sidewalk interviews sometime and Europe’s condescension becomes entirely understandable.

Ding ding ding…..the red state idiots will continue to support these people under the guise of “Middle America” and “Family Values” as they’re off banging male prostitutes on piles of money they ripped off the idiots in the first place.
mproust

Jackie_Treehorn… Ding, ding, ding… You need to get laid.
sarainitaly

learners retain approximately:
90% of what they learn when they teach someone else/use immediately.
75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned.
50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion.
30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration.
20% of what they learn from audio-visual.
10% of what they learn when they’ve learned from reading.
5% of what they learn when they’ve learned from lecture.

We are inefficient listeners

Numerous tests confirm that we are inefficient listeners. Studies have shown that immediately after listening to a 10-minute oral presentation, the average listener has heard, understood and retained 50 percent of what was said.

Within 48 hours, that drops off another 50 percent to a final level of 25 percent efficiency.
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=CM150

61% of what you read is lost after the first hour and 100% is lost after 24 hours unless…you revisit the information.
http://www.bewell-dowell.org/sos/reading_issues_retention.html

(ciao hampster! off to make dinner!0
http://www.partizane.com NewHampster

Great stuff sara! Grazie
http://www.facebook.com/people/Alan-Leventhal/100000981104348 Alan Leventhal

Bush was the most inarticulate, inauthentic President in at least the past 100 years. To see him otherwise denotes great ignorance and denial.
Nachi

Well stated. America is one of the few countries in the civilized world that does not appreciate, recognize, or insist upon formal education. It is glaringly obvious wherever one turns or travels. One of our “legacies.”

The infantilization of the electorate.
Integr8d

I’m surprised this is news to anyone. People have been commenting on the grade levels of presidential speeches for a long time.

Go grab ‘The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America’. You can download it for free in .pdf form.

Part of the illiteracy stems from a new-ish teaching style called sight-see. It’s been a real disaster. But this is what the egg-heads in academia have come up with. And this is what the Department of Education disseminates.

If kids were held to a real standard, of any meaningful kind, the graduation rate would be far, far lower. Instead, they are simply passed on and out into a world that’s ready to take advantage. Another funny example is that public school teachers are no longer using red ink to grade papers. Apparently, it’s too demeaning to the students… I wonder what that same group would say about a nun with a yard stick!

It’s funny that people can’t put two and two together. More money does not equal better education. Better instruction equals better education. Teachers that are content with passing students on and are solely focused on their fat pensions are the problem. Giving the kid more books, that he or she can’t even read, is not a solution. But you will NEVER hear this stuff from the politicians. Left or right, it won’t matter. The solution, for them, to everything is always ‘more money’. If the public were wiser, they’d see through this…