Does anyone besides me find this horrifying?

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

Horrible.

Slang has a place in the world.  But generally one would wish a child or other illiterate would learn to use proper English and maybe even grammar before endeavoring to supplant slang into their vernacular.  Why would you want to start out speaking poorly and later try to correct it?

Why not:  "Yo you be readin" or any other improper slang that part of our society would be comfortable with?  Is redneck or souther drawl now the official language of Oklahoma?

Clearly it is not the end of the world, but to promote literacy with poor English is just a bad decision.  If that is the level of literacy we're shooting for it's no wonder our education continues to lag.  

Of course, if I thought for a second that the posters would get even a small percentage of people to read I'd be OK with it - but they wont.  No one is going to enter a literacy program because Toby Keith says "Ya'll" on a poster.

Step back and think. Who is the target for this campaign? Probably not TU educated attorneys or masters degree city planners. Ever heard of "when talking to a farmer...talk like a farmer"? Ignore the slang, colloquialism, drawl, whatever and see what they are trying to do by using a successful entertainer to encourage reading. Will Rogers spoke like an Okie but had a keen intellect and sharp wit. He didn't speak any better than Toby Keith most of the time.

[cannon_fodder]

I understand Waterboy, it makes some sense in that regard.  But for school children it makes little sense.  On top of that, I really don't think any illiterate adult will see that sign and take to reading.

I hope they are successful, but I doubt improper English with help then with their goal.  And, I should point out, Will Rogers was able to speak very eloquently when he so chose.  He definitely spoke Oklahoman, but he understood when and how much he could turn it on and up.  

I don't begrudge anyone an accent, I just don't think we should teach them.  But I understand your point Waterboy, perhaps it will draw some people into a library.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by TulsaSooner

I was equally horrified by the 'Say No to Drugs' campaign of the 80's.

I mean, I'm nearly 40 years old now and drugs have never asked me anything!

If they did, it was already too late.

[cannon_fodder]

"20 percent of our state's adult population [is illiterate]."

http://www.readyall.com/intro.html

Wow.  I couldn't find good State literacy rankings, by 80% can not be that high.  It is the same range of El Salvador, Honduras, or Iran. Slightly below the Congo.

The good news is we have a very nice library system: http://www.pdc.us/pdf/praise-pubs/literacy-report_2003.pdf

Tulsa is #8 in the country among cities of 270K+.  We also scored well for overall educational spending.

[Renaissance]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

"20 percent of our state's adult population [is illiterate]."

http://www.readyall.com/intro.html

Wow.  I couldn't find good State literacy rankings, by 80% can not be that high.  It is the same range of El Salvador, Honduras, or Iran. Slightly below the Congo.

The good news is we have a very nice library system: http://www.pdc.us/pdf/praise-pubs/literacy-report_2003.pdf

Tulsa is #8 in the country among cities of 270K+.  We also scored well for overall educational spending.

You've got to realize how they do these literacy studies.  These aren't people who literally can't read--it means they're "functionally illiterate."  Still a bad thing--you'll never find them reading Dickens or maybe even the newspapers--but it's not like 1/5 of the population can't read a stop sign.

[breitee]

The Beverly Hillbillies are alive an well!

[Hometown]

My generation of Tulsans aspired to be urbane, wouldn't have been caught dead in a cowboy hat.  That was back when Tulsa Schools were famous for the quality of their education.

then

Black is beautiful
Okie is beautiful
Stupid is beautiful

happened

And actually stupid is sort of sexy in a craven kind of giving in to the dark side sort of way.