Grade Level of Speeches

[ClydeR]

Some people (http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2012/09/michelle_obamas_dnc_speech_wri.php) at the University of Minnesota ran all of the First Lady and would-be First Lady speeches through a tool that measures grade level. The result was this chart.

http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo166/rmi08a/GradeLevel.png

A related article says (http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2012/01/my_message_is_simple_obamas_so.php) that Barrack Obama's State of the Union speeches have been at the lowest grade level of State of the Union speeches.

If you were giving a speech, would you shoot for 8th grade level or 12th grade level?

[Buckwheet]

I believe popular publications try and maintain a 7th grade reading level and news papers/magazines aim for an 8th grade reading level. So that is what I would shoot for. The average adult reads at a 9th grade reading level.

[ClydeR]

The average adult reads at a 9th grade reading level.

That I did not know. I need to start dumbing down my posts so the average person here can comprehend them.

[Tgo01]

Isn't the whole point of a speech to get your point across to as many people as possible? Not that it really matters when it comes to these political conventions, people just applaud every 10 seconds like trained seals no matter what the person said and the person watching on TV thinks "They clapped! That means something good was said!" Again like trained seals. Then they'll go to the voting booths and look for the (D) or (R), like trained seals.