literacy

Stories 21 - 27 | << Prev 

Laura Bush's Feminist Agenda Is Anything but Demure

First lady quietly used her clout for every lady

(Newser) - You don’t hear much about Laura Bush, probably because her “demure librarian-teacher persona has minimized her appeal,” but women around the world owe a lot to the first lady, writes Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post. Bush has campaigned for breast cancer awareness in the Middle East,...

Death of Reading Greatly Exaggerated
 Death of Reading 
 Greatly Exaggerated 
Glossies

Death of Reading Greatly Exaggerated

Author Eggers pooh-poohs skeptical pundits, says it's 'as alive as ever'

(Newser) - Our bleak outlook on the future of reading owes itself to a doomsday reflex, the pervasive belief that things are bound to get worse, author Dave Eggers writes in Esquire. "It must be true, we think—just yesterday I saw some kid on the bus, and he wasn't reading...

Depressed Dads Make Kids Less Literate

Sad fathers don't read as much to babies, whose vocabs suffer

(Newser) - About 10% of new fathers show signs of clinical depression—a rate twice that of other men—and that can have a noticeable effect on their children, an American Psychiatric Association study finds. Sad dads interact less with their progeny, which means less bedtime reading and a smaller vocabulary by...

Eating Isn't Only Healthy Benefit of Family Dinner

Structured, deep interaction at meals yields adjusted kids

(Newser) - Studies in the 1990s showed that regular family dinners made kids less likely to do drugs, smoke or have psychological problems, but a closer look now finds that it's what goes on during those meals—strong verbal interaction, parents showing interest in their children—that really counts in the youngsters'...

Survey: Minneapolis the Most Literate US City

Researchers looked at 69 major metropolitan areas

(Newser) - New York may be the US city with the most literary pretensions, but the nation's most literate city it's not, a new survey finds. Minneapolis takes the honors as most literate large metropolitan area in a Central Connecticut State University survey reported in LiveScience. The nine runners-up are, in order:...

Is Our Children Reading?
Is Our Children Reading?

Is Our Children Reading?

No, and neither are teenagers and adults, new study finds

(Newser) - As far as young people are concerned, books are so 20th century. Reading's popularity has fallen as gadgets have taken over modern life, according to a new National Endowment for the Arts report. Only a third of high school seniors read at a proficient level. “And proficiency is not...

India Short On Skilled Workers
India Short On Skilled Workers

India Short On Skilled Workers

Despite the tech boom, a third of the country is still illiterate

(Newser) - Why is India short on skilled labor when it's teeming with Ph.D.s? While the staggering growth of its tech industry seems to have put the country in the running for the world’s next superpower, James Surowiecki observes that the Bengal tiger could be made of paper. Thirty...

Stories 21 - 27 | << Prev