WMAQ Channel 5 - Today in Chicago with Norman Mark - "The Literacy Hoax" (1978)

Here's an edition of Today in Chicago with Norman Mark on WMAQ Channel 5, dealing with the problem of literacy rates being of inverse proportion to what is spent on education (an estimated $150 billion a year, while our schools even then were turning out functional illiterates). The guests are Paul Copperman, president of the Institute of Reading Development and author of "The Literacy Hoax," and Hank De Zutter, writer and English instructor at Malcolm X College.

This was from a (Umatic) dub of the original master tape, and thus there are no commercials or news break.

Includes:

CG slate with full field color bars, reading:

Today In Chicago
P 1595
Recorded 11/10/78
Playback 11/13/78
Segment 1

Opening titles (with a little different theme music) - notice "With Norman Mark" doesn't come up yet at this point in show's history

Norman opens with setup for this edition, then relates a story from Chicago's history about former Mayor (and U.S. Representative) Long John Wentworth and The Sands area before signalling for a news break (another example of how this differed from later editions he hosted).

"News Next...." bumper

CG slate signalling Segment 2

Norman starts off by showing the book, then introducing his guests; Paul such subjects as Chicago schools' literacy rates vs. the national average, the effect of public schools on children's IQ's year by year, how illiteracy negatively affects job prospects for those graduating high school, education up to the 1963-65 period and after and the reasons why it went down the tubes; while Hank lists examples of college students' poor writing skills and how their antipathy towards same is imbued, and the role of technology in this trend, before Norman signals for a break.

"Stay tuned for more...." bumper (music: "We All Remember Wes" by George Benson)

CG slate signalling Segment 3

In this part, Paul discusses the nationwide dumbing down of textbooks in high schools, and talks about how students aren't being given rigorous enough work demands for school assignments and his experiences in inner city schools and teacher discipline, while Hank gives his accounts about teachers having no effect on students, and why lousy writers are turned out by our schools; while he and Paul disagree about whether to encourage or force them to write (Paul says it isn't a teacher's job to be "nice"), before Norman calls for the next break.

"More to come......" bumper (music: "We All Remember Wes")

CG slate signalling Segment 4

In the final segment, Hank and Paul clash on how to get students to write, and Paul cites a "manifesto" called "Students' Rights to Their Own Language" which he condemns as "anything goes" before Norman closes the program by previewing next day's edition (running in Chicago), listing upcoming community events, and telling his guests about Youth Appreciation Day at the end.

(With "We All Remember Wes" music: )

Today In Chicago
Pre-recorded

This aired on local Chicago TV on Monday, November 13th 1978 during the 6:30am to 7:00am timeframe. (Recorded on Friday, November 10th 1978.)

This footage was donated to The Museum of Classic Chicago Television as part of The Mike and Britta Fayette Collection.

About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:

The Museum of Classic Chicago Television's primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s and early 80s, primarily) recorded off of any and all Chicago TV channels; footage which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. Even though (mostly) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical purposes. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to DVD, and to view more of the 4,700+ (and counting) video clips available for viewing in our online archive, please visit us at:
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