Looking Beyond the Data: Literacy, Education, and Everyday Practice

What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today?
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/whats-it-like-to-be-a-teacher-in-america-today/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Most Americans think U.S. K–12 STEM education isn’t above average, but test results paint a mixed picture
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/most-americans-think-us-k-12-stem-education-isnt-above-average-but-test-results-paint-a-mixed-picture/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/09/americans-still-opt-for-print-books-over-digital-or-audio-versions-few-are-in-book-clubs/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

The first article about American teachers really stood out to me because I used to think teacher workload was especially serious in South Korea. The article shows that many American teachers also feel stressed and overwhelmed, and many say they do not have enough time during their regular work hours to complete everything they need to do, such as grading, planning, paperwork, and communicating with parents.

This reminded me of what has been happening in Korea. Korean teachers also deal with heavy workloads, but another major issue has been pressure and excessive complaints from some parents. Because education is extremely competitive in Korea, some parents can become very demanding about their children’s education and may contact teachers even late at night. In recent years, the deaths of several teachers have led to a much larger public discussion about teachers’ working conditions, parental complaints, and teachers’ rights.

So I found it interesting that although the specific contexts are different, teachers in both countries are expected to do much more than just teach. Their work involves parents, administrative responsibilities, student behavior, and many other demands. It made me think about teacher stress less as an individual problem and more as a structural issue within education systems.

The second article, about Americans’ perceptions of STEM education compared with actual international assessment results, made me think about South Korea differently. Korea is known for high academic achievement and strong performance on international assessments, especially in subjects like math. But I think Korea is also a good example of why high test scores do not necessarily tell us everything about the quality of an education system.

The college entrance exam, the Suneung, is such a major event in Korea that during the English listening portion of the exam, aircraft takeoffs and landings are restricted to reduce noise. Students often spend years preparing for this one exam, and private education is a huge industry. Families can spend a significant amount of money on hagwons and private tutoring, and the pressure on students can become extremely intense. There have even been cases of students dying by suicide after the exam.

So when I read the Pew article, I kept thinking about the question, “What counts as evidence of a good education system?” Test scores certainly tell us something important, but they do not tell us everything. If students perform very well academically but that achievement comes with extreme competition, large amounts of private education, and serious pressure on students, we need other kinds of evidence to understand the system. This also connects to disciplinary literacy because reading educational data requires more than simply looking at a ranking or a number. We have to think about what was measured, what was not measured, and what conclusions the evidence actually allows us to make.

The third article about print books, e-books, and audiobooks made me think about the question of what we actually count as reading or literacy. Print is still important-I personally prefer paper books rather than digital form, but people now engage with texts through many different media. That is especially noticeable when I think about younger people. Children may read traditional books, but they also interact with information through games, videos, subtitles, online communities, and other digital spaces.

As a parent, I sometimes find myself thinking that my son should read more books instead of spending so much time playing games or watching YouTube. But thinking about literacy as a practice complicates that assumption. Instead of only asking, “How much is he reading?” I can also ask, “What kinds of literacy practices is he participating in?” Games can involve problem-solving, strategic thinking, reading instructions, communicating with others, and learning how complex systems work. YouTube can also involve information seeking, listening, evaluating different sources, and making meaning across language, images, sound, and video.

Of course, this does not mean that playing games or watching YouTube is automatically equivalent to reading a book. Different literacy practices develop different skills, and passive consumption may offer very little. But it has made me think differently about my role as a parent. Rather than simply restricting these activities, I can pay more attention to what he is doing with them and help him use different forms of media in ways that develop a broader range of literacy skills.