To be a Fourth Estate Guardian (FEG) must you also be an intelligent being? What is intellect? What is IQ? How is it studied, determined, tested, analyzed, and what is the resolution of its study? These are sometimes considered empirical questions. In the late 1970's to mid 1980's the U.S. Department of Education discontinued IQ testing quotients unilaterally across the nation. They determined IQ tests unfairly apportioned competition of social classes and decided that equalizing class structure would best serve the interests of the public. In "Simple Language, Plain Rhetoric: Dumbing Down of America," there are references to publications that support this assertion. The U.S. Department of Education did collectively decide to move to more "socialist" regimes in achieving educational standardization. We as citizens did not question these changes rather we accepted them. Dumbing down, as it were, became a newly accepted and palatable concept.
As an author, I have often heard that the American public reads on a sixth to eighth grade level, I do not believe this assertion personally though statistics support it. When developing articles the Flesch-Kincaid levels associated with my writing routinely rank 10th, 11th, 12th, to 15th grade levels. I do receive occasional complaints that I write "over the heads" of readers. More often than not this typical level of writing is met with positive commentaries, the negative remarks worry me though. Perhaps we have not altered the Flesch-Kincaid levels to meet Dumbing Down standards? I have reviewed a variety of contemporary thoughts that confirm this notion. I personally reamin uncertain. I don't like to employ "personal conjecture" too often in articles that are for "you" the readership. To my way of thinking, it's best to deliver resources and concepts allowing "you" the reader to arrive at "your own individual conclusions." From this logic, you can derive I am a supporter of individualism. The idea of making all writing, all concepts, and all theory palatable to a sixth grade educational norm grates at my intellect. This process removes any ability to achieve individual talents or aspirations.
The Fourth Estate Guardians (FEGs) have a responsibility to continue to view intellect as a quality to aspire to. We do have a responsibility to provide more than a soft-coated pill of story where language is devoid of effort. Reading should, at times, require further research, it should prompt minds to grapple new ideas, it should create an evolution surpassing imitations and Memologies presented from a multitude of other writings delivered throughout the reader's past. The idea that we can't expect individuals to exert their ultimate in an effort to read, thereby requiring the minimization of content in order to maintain readership, is a dangerous idea indeed.
As an author, I have often heard that the American public reads on a sixth to eighth grade level, I do not believe this assertion personally though statistics support it. When developing articles the Flesch-Kincaid levels associated with my writing routinely rank 10th, 11th, 12th, to 15th grade levels. I do receive occasional complaints that I write "over the heads" of readers. More often than not this typical level of writing is met with positive commentaries, the negative remarks worry me though. Perhaps we have not altered the Flesch-Kincaid levels to meet Dumbing Down standards? I have reviewed a variety of contemporary thoughts that confirm this notion. I personally reamin uncertain. I don't like to employ "personal conjecture" too often in articles that are for "you" the readership. To my way of thinking, it's best to deliver resources and concepts allowing "you" the reader to arrive at "your own individual conclusions." From this logic, you can derive I am a supporter of individualism. The idea of making all writing, all concepts, and all theory palatable to a sixth grade educational norm grates at my intellect. This process removes any ability to achieve individual talents or aspirations.
The Fourth Estate Guardians (FEGs) have a responsibility to continue to view intellect as a quality to aspire to. We do have a responsibility to provide more than a soft-coated pill of story where language is devoid of effort. Reading should, at times, require further research, it should prompt minds to grapple new ideas, it should create an evolution surpassing imitations and Memologies presented from a multitude of other writings delivered throughout the reader's past. The idea that we can't expect individuals to exert their ultimate in an effort to read, thereby requiring the minimization of content in order to maintain readership, is a dangerous idea indeed.
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