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I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

bbc.co.uk

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Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

#31

Post by nindalf »

denton-scratch wrote: post #20
hliyan wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also not from the US, but I think read about him many many years ago in Reader's Digest. It was a long form that had a lot more information. I recognized the story because of this anecdote: "I passed my blue book out the window to him and he answered the questions for me." But the Reader's Digest version mentioned that he was dyslexic (which I don't think the BBC article mentions) and that he taught almost exclusivel…

It does sound like he was dyslexic ("for me it was like opening a Chinese newspaper "). But the speed at which he eventually acquired reading and writing doesn't seem consistent with dyslexia; I figure there was some other problem interfering with hiis literacy.

He says it took him 7 years to feel literate. Does that seem quick to you?

Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

#32

Post by nindalf »

timonoko wrote: post #2

On Google translate you can test new phonetic spelling. "Wii shäl miit tu dei in Nyy Jork" works best in Polish, Icelandic and Finnish. I suggest we just ignore weird sounds like θ and ð and just use "th" as "thö" sounds reasonably good in those languages.

Is this comment chain supposed to be related to the story about the teacher who couldn’t read? Seems like a software bug.

Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

#33

Post by CTDOCodebases »

I once worked with a Chef that couldn't read. He made it through culinary school, had his own catering company at one point and owned two residential properties. He was a charismatic guy but very cunning and deceptive. I figured it out after a couple of weeks working with him. I tried to offer him help but he just brushed it off and said that he was dyslexic. Smart phones have many features that make it easy for illiterate people to survive.

Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

#34

Post by Broken_Hippo »

ghoshbishakh wrote: post #16

I still don't get it. How is it possible that he managed to go through the system.

A combination of cheating, life hacks, folks enabling him, and being labeled as a bad - and then good - student, which diverted people's attention away from his lack of reading.

And to be fair: Some of this was the time period. We catch a few more learning disabilities now (not enough, though) and have more tools to help. We just didn't screen so much in the 50s.

Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

#35

Post by moonchild »

Ntrails wrote: post #30
ramblerman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It makes workplaces hell for everyone involved, both the idiots and the capable. I think your attitude is what makes the hell tbh. We should definitely teach everyone to be literate, and not just decide they should be "excellent coal miner"s instead.

Slight devils advocate. Is everyone happier with mandatory schooling for longer? It isn't that we shouldn't give everyone the chance to learn, but maybe some people really would be happier dropping out at 14 and just getting a job. Being at school where all you do is fail does not make for a good life experience! I think the answer is probably that we don't want parents pulling kids out of school early just to earn m…

14-year-olds are likely not equipped to make such a decision. If all you're doing at school is failing, then the school itself should provide better support mechanisms.

Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

#36

Post by tuukkah »

sampo wrote: post #15
juki wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"th" isn't really used in Finnish (at least in modern kirjakieli). Even loan words just drop the "h" (e.g. "termostaatti"). There probably are some exceptions, but none that I can think of right now.

Finnish has only 3 words, all loanwords that didn't drop the h: thai (+ thai food, thai boxing etc), theeta (name of the Greek letter) and thorax (medical term, common word is rintakehä). https://www.kielitoimistonsanakirja.fi/#/th?searchMode=all

That's surprising to me, perhaps because "th" appears in inflected words such as "ovathan", dialectal words such as "vasthaan", compound words such as "oluthana" and names such as "Elisabeth" or "Porthania".

Also, I wonder what's the share of the pronounciations "t", "th" and "θ" in the word "theremin".

(You can download a list of word forms encountered in some selected written texts here: https://kaino.kotus.fi/sanat/taajuuslista/parole.php)

Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

#37

Post by timonoko »

nindalf wrote: post #32
timonoko wrote: post #2

On Google translate you can test new phonetic spelling. "Wii shäl miit tu dei in Nyy Jork" works best in Polish, Icelandic and Finnish. I suggest we just ignore weird sounds like θ and ð and just use "th" as "thö" sounds reasonably good in those languages.

Is this comment chain supposed to be related to the story about the teacher who couldn’t read? Seems like a software bug.

Yes. I forgot to explain.

I learned to read in one month like any other Finnish child ever. But it took a month longer to understand what I was reading. Like my small brain was using all its capacity in pronunciation and I forgot what I just said.

English is like Chinese, you have to learn all pictorials and their meanings. Learning the pronunciation is different process. That is why English takes years and years to learn.

Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

#38

Post by cwdegidio »

My grandfather, born in the back hills of West Virginia, was forced to leave school when he was around 6 years old to chop lumber so his family had enough to survive. After he left WV, he worked a press at a forge and was a landscaper at night an on the weekends. He never has learned how to read, and sadly he is in the early stages of dementia so I think that ship has sailed. But... he was always a whiz with finances.

He was the kind of guy that can take a dollar on Monday and give you back $100 on Friday. He owns, I believe at this point, 8 properties including his own home.

I always regret not staying back home for a bit to try and help him, but I think by the time I would have been in a place to do it he would have told me he had just accepted the fact he would never learn to read. I can't imagine going through life like he did, how much I would hav missed.

But it also was always an inspiration to me. Every time I would feel my motivation for something academic or professional start to wane, I remind myself that this man who gave me and my siblings anything to help us succeed didn't get to do 90% of the things I take for granted.

It's really sad to see some folks on this thread call this man an idiot. From first hand experience, that's not necessarily the case and often people like him become far more clever than I'll ever be as a means of survival.

Re: I was a teacher for 17 years, but couldn't read or write

#39

Post by rubyn00bie »

I dream of having the confidence of a white man for only one day. Like, I’ve been writing code for twenty years, and I feel like an imposter still. I can’t even fucking imagine being able to wake up in the morning, living a lie like this, fucking up kids educations because your too much of a pathetic child to admit your own failings?! I find this article to be pretty disgusting to be honest.
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