The National Post

Post-secondary educators are seeing a shortfall in reading, writing and math skills that some say dates to the 1970s

Laura Fowlie
National Post

Bernie Gaidosch recalls the time he asked a third-year student to summarize her essay in her own words and watched helplessly as she dissolved into tears.

"She admitted she had been faking her way through essays her entire school career," says Dr. Gaidosch, an English professor at George Brown College in Toronto, who has been teaching for more than 25 years and is witnessing a progressive erosion in student skills. More frustrated than ever by basic writing assignments, his students are cheating, dropping out and suffering breakdowns in greater numbers.

"There's a real problem in that a growing number of my students are not good readers and not good writers," Mr. Gaidosch says. He has responded by producing two student handbooks -- one for writing essays and the other for exams. "Kids aren't just failing -- they're paying a real human and emotional toll for not being able to write and study well.

"The criteria for passing or failing can be mushy, but our society still places a high value on high marks," he says, noting that the majority of college students he teaches perform between a Grade 8 and Grade 10 level on diagnostic tests. "Not only do those who graduate at the top of their class get the best opportunities, but you can see that their whole self-image is tied up in it."

Canada does not employ a standardized test for high school graduates who hope to enter university, such as the SAT tests written in the United States. Anecdotally, however, educators agree that post-secondary students are often stymied by low marks on written tests, and that a lack of basic English skills is often the culprit.

Some trace the shortfall in reading and writing skills among high school graduates back to the 1970s, when school boards across the country abandoned phonics, the traditional method of teaching English-language skills, in favour of a "whole language" model. Rather than sounding out words, children have been encouraged to repeatedly read favourite books and begin to recognize words through osmosis.

At the same time, educators embraced the view all children learn at their own pace, thus limiting grade failures to extreme circumstances. The result is, by the time children reach middle school, a huge range of reading and writing skills exists in the classroom, making teaching more advanced concepts, such as research and essay writing, more difficult.

"We've seen a move away from direct teaching to a system where teachers are positioned as facilitators who present learning opportunities to their students," says Dr. Mark Handley-Derry, a Toronto-based pediatrician and advocate for special education. "Some children can succeed, but those children who are most vulnerable in the system tend to suffer the most."

More recently, the pendulum has begun to swing back toward basic teaching methods, but not enough, some say. Retired teacher Sheila Morrison, chairwoman of the Ontario Coalition for Education Reform, sees some progress in the new curriculum content introduced by the Ontario Ministry of Education, but is pessimistic about the implementation.

"About half of the children taking the Grade 3 standardized tests [in Ontario] have failed every year for the past five years, but no one is taking steps to give them remedial help," she says. "Parents are turning to private education for help, but if you can't afford it, the situation won't improve."

"They really threw the baby out with the bath water when they got rid of the basics," agrees Dr. Michael Luther, an educator with Kumon Canada, a tutoring company. "When you have the basic building blocks, you can do well in any course of study. Now there is a recognition the whole-language approach alone is not going to cut it, but there's no clear agreement on what will."

As an educational psychologist who was with the Toronto District School Board for 26 years, Dr. Luther can testify to the emotional and behavioural fallout of students' inability to perform in the classroom, especially at the high school level.

"High school is when things really hit the fan, and students first encounter failure," he says, predicting more high school students will turn to tutors or programs such as Kumon in the future. "That's when the panic, fear and anxiety begin to surface. It can make the adolescent years a really terrible time for them."

Within the past five years, Kumon's 339 centres across Canada have noted a 43% increase in average monthly enrolment. The increase for its reading programs alone has been 104%. While much of the growth can be attributed to immigrant children, many new registrants are English-speaking students who are simply falling behind.

Meanwhile, demand for able tutors is on the rise. Janet Arnold, a mother of two in Burlington, Ont., is taking no chances when her son Sean enters Grade 9 this fall. She is hiring at least two tutors to help him focus on his studies.

"I stopped relying on the school system to be there for him a long time ago," says Ms. Arnold, who has hired tutors for several years now to assist her children with reading, writing and math. "The teachers may say they want open communication between home and school, but I have found that in practice it never really happens," she says.

"The public school reading debate may be just part of the puzzle," Mr. Gaidosch says.

Greater emphasis on technology at the expense of the written word and cutbacks in teaching staff, librarians and materials in schools have also contributed to what he sees as an urgent situation.

"Business places a huge value on critical thinking and the ability of employees to express themselves clearly and effectively," he says.

"In the working world, you have to write reports, business letters, memos, précis, press releases and even e-mails. Some of the employers I've talked to say, 'Don't worry about the practical skills -- we'll teach them those. Just give us graduates who can read and write.' "

Parents are too often unaware of the school-related stresses their children face before they graduate high school, unless it manifests itself in a behavioural problem at home, Mr. Gaidosch says. "[They] really need to talk to their kids about what is happening in school -- and in a meaningful way."

Mr. Gaidosch's self-published books The Professor's Secrets: Breaking the Silence -- How to Write Essays and Term Papers (161 pp.) and The Professor's Secrets: Breaking the Silence -- How to Get Top Marks on Tests and Exams are not sold in bookstores. They can be purchased online at www.profsecrets.com or by calling 1-877-439-3999.

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