Nothing to do with the system, either. Nor the politicians.
Some kids can't read and write - full stop, amen, and that is the truth. We are talking Beau, here. I saw his writing on the news report and I have seen the difficulty he has in even forming the shape of the letters of the alphabet. A five-year-old can do a better job. Yes, Beau has extreme learning difficulties.
If we are talking could the levels of literacy be lower than they would otherwise be if our "education system" was different, then that's a different issue and I could agree on that. I have always suspected that literacy skills have declined from the good old days and this is predominantly because learning them requires a level of discipline, not apparent in schools today. However, this is also partly due to changing community behaviour and attitudes. People are getting the teachers they deserve, particular as this profession has been subjected to criticism, attack from parents, etc and high achievers tend not to want to teach. They find it somewhat unrewarding with unwarranted levels of criticism levelled at them constantly. Parents think teachers are supposed to discipline their kids, teach them social skills, refuse teachers to give detentions or other forms of discipline, etc. and would prefer to claim it is all the teacher's fault, the school's fault, the Education Department's fault, etc etc etc etc. No personal responsibility is taken and it is common practice to just deride someone or something else. Attack, attack, attack.
