Comments on: 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

By: Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Godspeed You! Black Emperor — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:19:39 +0000

I would be surprised if more than 5% of high school graduates, in any region of the planet, could use each and every one of these words correctly in a sentence.

By: Tabiko

Tabiko — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:21:07 +0000

I second this wholeheartedly. I could reiterate your points so I don’t just sound like a parrot, but you really did say everything that I feel needed to be said. So… squawk.

By: James Smith, João Pessoa, Brazil

James Smith, João Pessoa, Brazil — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:19:21 +0000

Just because you don;t know many of these words, that doesn’t make them useless. It simply means you are foot soldier in the “Dumbing down of America”. Or maybe even a platoon leader.

Being proud of your ignorance simply points out that you will probably be an ignorant illiterate all of your life. Further evidence is given by the level of profanity in so many posts. When “fuck you” is your best insult, it shows you have no originality or intelligence. Profanity is always a sign of a weak mind tying to express itself forcefully.

By: Linguist Manque

Linguist Manque — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:11:48 +0000

I think that I see the point that some of you argumentative people are trying to make, although I use these possibly pretentious words, all the time. (seriously… although still LOL)

IMHO, these word lists are most annoying (highfaluting, perhaps?) because learning a language one word at a time is most unproductive… even your native language. Words almost always act together, as a team, in complete sentences and paragraphs, with added nuances of meaning, sometimes called figures of speech, literary allusions, or idioms. Most students learn very little by memorizing definitions, one word at a time.

Well then, why do so many educators focus on learning separate “words” from a list. Well… it’s easier for the educators who write (and later analyze the results from) those confounded standardized tests. Statisticians have observed that students who “test out” to have large vocabularies are correlated with high academic achievement. However, that does not mean, conversely, that teaching a lot of words, one at a time, will educate students. (But that digresses to an entirely separate essay, on the scientific design of statistically valid research experiments, that lead to reasonably valid conclusions… LOL, but true.)

Unfortunate consequence is that our educational institutions can’t get out of the paradigm of teaching to the tests. Perhaps it’s the undue influence of sports in education. We want to see a scoreboard, with a clear numerical evaluation of the value of our efforts, our progress to date.

Instead, Grasshopper, try to take the pebble… The point is, that I can offer no alternative, no advice except read widely, of literature that is just within your grasp, not too easy, and at the same time, not too hard to understand. Perhaps, that is where our educational institutions let us down. Each grade and classroom gets the same textbook… one size fits all.

Please, offer your comments… concurrence or rebuttal. (reasoned, of course, as I am a proletarian grease monkey, in reality; yet a college professor, manque… LOL)

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:01:25 +0000

Most of these words are really big words. Dictionary is our best friend.

By: Micah

Micah — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:03:03 +0000

the problem with this list is that some of the words, yes high school graduates should know them. some of the words on this list, however, are a bit much.

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:31:53 +0000

I use half of these on a daily basis with my friends. None of us put effort into it. Heck no one is taking English courses in university either, I only got my highschool degree too. What makes me wonder is why is “euro” , “parabola”, and “irony” in there? I doubt you can get out of middle school not knowing those…

By: Thinker

Thinker — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:59:49 +0000

It is sad that every time someone talks about gaining knowledge, we turn around and call them elitist.

It’s the concepts you should know, not just the words.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:48:25 +0000

Haha. Elitists, step down off your high horses. You’re making a mockery of yourselves.

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:21:06 +0000

It is not too difficult to see why most of the above have trouble with the words in the list. They seem to have trouble with any words over fourletters, especially the first writer. Here are a few words more in line with their intelligence: cat, dog, up, like…etc.