It was reported in last week's UK national press that government figures had revealed forty percent of children in the UK struggle to write their own names by the age of five. In these days of identity theft, does this mean that these children are skilled at signing someone else's name?
The Fuss
I thought that I would research this a little more to get behind those statistics.
Four-year-old Zbigniew Stanislaw Bogumil Jazda-Czetwertynski, who moved here from Poland just six weeks ago, took time out from stacking shelves at his father's new supermarket, to explain that he was extremely disappointed he had not yet learnt to write his name. On the other hand, seventeen-year-old Tim Bell from Hull said that he couldn't understand what all the fuss was about!
Mum and Dad
Fifteen percent of these children could not write "mum" and, when asked to write "dad", half of them said, “What is a dad?”
In addition, in some countries, children are not expected to start to read and write until the age of seven. Yegbene Chegchegwande, Somalia's Chief Education Minister, confirmed that that was correct; however, they were expected to prime a rocket launcher and fire an AK-47 by that age!
Role Model
The press reports also mentioned that more than twenty percent of youngsters have problems stringing a coherent sentence together by the time they enter the reception year.
The father of one of these children took time out from his business meeting in the Red Lion to explain the importance of role models, “Hic, you're the beshtest, beshtest friend I've ever had and…..and….what was the question again? Oh yes, you're the beshtest…….erm, whatever! Anyway, I bloody love you!”
Perspective
In conclusion, despite investment of around £21billion pounds, there has been little improvement in children's language, literacy and personal, social and emotional development. Although the statistics are worrying, we should perhaps get some perspective. These youngsters do all know what "ASBO" stands for, they all know that Cocaine is a Class A drug, whilst Cannabis is currently Class C, and they can handle the controls of a PlayStation3 with consummate ease. So, not all is lost!
