Yes, I like guys with or without pants. Which one I prefer depends on the guy & the situation.
No, dear, not in the expensive French restaurant. Put those back on, please.
…Wow… This is not mean to slam on the OP… but come on! You have so little information about this situation how can you possibly make any judgement?
He could have a learning disability. He could have poor vision. He could be developmentally disabled. He could have a speech impediment that made it look like he could not read but was really trying to force the words out. You have NO clue what was up.
Instead you label him a stupid fat kid with stupid fat parents? That’s just plain weird.
Apparently the sister had no trouble reading right? What’s that say?
:dubious:
That she learned to read, somewhere.
I have two sisters. One taught me to read before I started kindergarten, after she learned how in school. The other one (the oldest) is still functionally illiterate at 45.
Who do you think I credit with my voracious appetite for reading? I’ll give you a hint: It ain’t my parents, who never could be arsed.
And this has to do with the OP how?
It has little to do with the OP, as it’s a response to your post, remember? The one where you asked “Apparently the sister had no trouble reading right? What’s that say?”
Your question implies that you might think that, since their daughter could read, the parents must be fulfilling their obligations with regard to the basic education of their son. This does not follow, and my anecdotal comment was meant to illustrate that for you.
I’m terribly sorry if literacy and reading comprehension issues push personal buttons for you.
No…I labeled him as illiterate. From the information that I saw, he had trouble reading what was on the front of a t-shirt. He had no visible or audible problems, so that rules out your speech impediment idea. He could have poor vision, but the shirts were right in front of him, and if his eyes were that poor I doubt he would be able to go clothes shopping without glasses. My vision is very poor, I know whereof I speak. He could be developmentally disabled, but I sincerely doubt it.
As for making snap judgments, hows about you read your post again? Thanks.
Back in college I was reading a book on education/learning, written by a respected expert (whose name I can’t remember of course). He had found that a child’s success in school can be very closely linked to their ability to read competantly, from the start. I’d always thought that you got most kids to read by teaching them to read, in formal lessons. Sure, I’d picked up reading on my own, but nobody else in first grade had.
Instead, his research had shown that one of the best things you can do for your children is to read. Not just read to, or with them, but be seen reading for your own enjoyment. Make it a part of everyday life, from the time they’re tiny, and they’re much more likely to become readers. In education especially, readers can overcome a lot of obstacles non-readers might not.
laina_f– you’d be surprised how many kids’ parents have the same attitude as your co-worker. One of my friends teaches kindergarden and has had kids brought in for their first day who haven’t been potty trained yet. That’s what the schools are for!
Not necessarily. My oldest son has a severe speech imediment, with no signs that are obvious to strangers. His speech issues are neither visibile, nor audible.
I also have a couple of speech impediments that are far more noticeable, yet they never precluded a career in broadcasting.
And obviously, I have a coding impediment.
Then, where are they? (if you don’t mind me asking; i’m just curious)
When I was a youngster, if someone was a stupid little asshole, that’s what they were. In the 40 years which have since passed, we’ve improved education to the point that we can blame the teachers, the community, the textbooks, and the big spotted dog across the street for why Johnny is a stupid little asshole. Now that Johnny is a victim, all is better.
I think this is true. I am a voracious, fast reader, with voracious, fast-reading parents and sisters, and my sisters and I have always excelled academically. Now my nieces are voracious readers, and they are also doing well in school. My niece is ten - around the age of the boy in the OP, and she is reading novels.
And since this is a thread about literacy, it’s spelled “competent.” 
He might be Scots. :o
I don’t want this thread to become about me, but I would like to point out my experience to show how far we’ve come.
My mother taught me to read when I was a toddler. By the time I got to kindergarten, I was reading at Grade 8 level, and I could spell and everything. The school board had never seen one of me before, and decided I must be some kind of genius. So they created a special program to advance me through the grades to come out a year ahead of everybody else by Grade 6. By this time I was a fish out of water, and began to fail miserably in everything, because I was not some kind of genius, I could just read. That’s all. I was the only person to ever have taken such a program. It was discontinued, they did no followup whatsoever.
My mother did not teach my brothers how to read, on purpose. The youngest one does perfectly well with spelling and grammar. The next one up, not so well. He is a poor speller and has little command of written language and the structure of grammar.
I think it is imperative that parents to teach their children to read, unless they are unable to because they can’t do it themselves. It seems apparent that nowadays if you can’t read by the time you get to school, you aren’t going to learn much about it. I have no children, but from what I gather about teaching in the 21st century, spelling and grammar are not taught anymore, and kids are encouraged to spell words the way they sound. This is appalling to me. I feel sorry for the kid in the OP. He is going to have a hell of a difficult life if this is the state of his reading comprehension at his age.
While I would not even consider disputing the number and variety of both “stupid little assholes” and semi-professional victims wandering around out there, I am astonished by your willingness to absolutely reject out of hand the possibility that the child has a genuine problem.
Have you seen this site? (I don’t know, maybe you’d call it a blog?) Anyway, it’s a loving father’s reflections about (mostly) his beautiful little child, Schuyler, who appears normal in most respects but is genetically incapable of speech due to a brain defect. Look at her picture (her proud dad has posted many, many of them) and the videos, and tell me that there isn’t some jerk out there who has seen her taking in semi-gibberish and declared ignorantly that either she or her neglectful parents must be to blame.
Horrified though I am by people who can’t be bothered to teach their children, and inimaginable though I find the concept of going around unable to read, there need not be any “assholes” on the premises. (BTW – regarding the inappropriateness of the t-shirt messages being suggested for the boy in the store, I find it hystericall funny that Schuyler’s dad bought her a t-shirt that says “You talk too much” as a kind of in your face response to people who reject her because she is mute.)
DAMN I hate typos.
Exactly. That’s what some of these people are saying. They would rather grasp at straws (a bizarre, rare speech impediment; a brain defect; severe dyslexia) than admit what this probably is – bad parenting and a less-than-genius kid.
That bright light in the sky? Yeah, it’s a UFO. It’s not light reflecting off a weather balloon or suchlike. Continue to believe, people, if it’s comforting to you. :dubious:
Ewww. Do they have to let kids who aren’t potty-trained participate in kindergarten anyway, or is that something that parents must take care of before their kids start?
Not to move off of the supposition of illiteracy, but right around this time ages 11-14 is when nearsighted kids often start to need glasses, and parents are often clueless until the teacher has to bring it to their attention.
So because you have one sister who reads and one who is functionally illiterate… that answers my questions? Sorry it doesn’t. :dubious:
The OP assumes that because one child can’t read that it’s the parents fault. Ultimately ignoring any other possiblity. Also ignoring that the other child apparently has no problem. That would atleast OPEN the possibility that it isn’t the parents fault.
All anecdotal evidence aside.