BBC - Family conversations have deteriorated into a "daily grunt" that
leaves young children unable to talk properly, according to the man in
charge of maintaining educational standards in Britain. Alan Wells
blames television and long working hours and fears that thousands of
families are becoming like the Royle family, the monosyllabic layabouts
in the BBC sitcom, who live in the shadow of the television. He says
that parents should go back to school to relearn how to talk to their
offspring in order to counter a sharp drop in primary school pupils'
linguistic abilities.
Mr Wells, director of the Government's Basic Skills Agency, set out to
investigate why pupils reaching primary school age had the worst
language skills in memory. Research has shown that in some areas up to
half of children aged five lack linguistic ability. Working-class
families are most likely to be affected, but children from affluent
backgrounds also suffer because their parents tend to work long hours.
Mr Wells also blamed the rise of one-parent families and the end of
shared mealtimes, which had ended reasoned discussion of the day's
events. . . "It's because of the children sitting in front of the
television and the computer and the lack of time families spend having
food together. It clearly has an impact on their learning." . . . He
added that tests for seven and 11-year-olds had damaged their
development. "I think the tyranny of tests in schools has become
entirely negative," he said. "The danger is testing, not teaching."