That is the best article I’ve read on Free Republic since I’ve been here. Thanks for posting it.
It’s no joke, either.
When I was in school, in first grade I was placed in the “lowest reader” class. My parents were furious; I learned to read at 3 yrs old, and entered kindergarden at age four. They marched into that school and demanded a comprehensive reading test be administered to me. I was already reading at a 3rd grade level because my parents taught me phonics.
Things haven’t changed much, either. I went through this with my own son.
Same ol’ shit....even though he has mild Tourette’s Syndrome, I taught him to read....early. I got the same crap that my parents did, and I reacted the same way; I demanded a comprehensive test. In sixth grade, my son was reading at a college sophomore level, exactly the same level I read at HIS age.
This “dumbing down” of kids is intentional, as is the trying to convince parents that their kids are dumb, is.
Again, thanks for posting the piece.
Hell, the librarian at my sons elementary school would not let him check out certain books, because she said he could not read. He was in the first grade reading at the fifth grade level. At the first conference, I told the teacher to allow him to check out any book he damn well pleases. The teached said he could not read. I told her he started reading at 3 years old, and was reading me bedtime stories by the time he was 5. She just stated he could not read. He may recognize some words, but he could not read. I called my son in from the hallway. I then went to the teachers desk, grabbed the daily teachers memo, handed it to my son, and told him to read the second paragraph, out loud. He did, word for word. Then, I asked him to explain what he had just read. He did. I told him good job, and to go back out into the hallway. When I looked at the teacher, she looked me right in the eye and said, “ He cannot read.”.....
I had a similar experience with my daughter back in the early 70s.
I/we had taught her to read prior to kindergarten.
We went to 'Meet the Teacher' night just before the start of my daughter entering kindergarten. I told the teacher, rather proudly, that Jeanette knew how to read. She jumped me with both barrels, accusing me of using the wrong method and my daughter woud be ruined for life.
That's when I knew gov. education was in the toilet.
My daughter was in honors classes throughout.
But even there the curriculum sucked.
My daughter would bring home papers in science , for instance, with poor capitalization, punctuation. But they were graded 'A'. When I pointed out the mistakes she told me in Science class punctuation, etc. was ignored. Only English class graded on it.
Then there was New Math. Another totally worthless endeavor.
One of the problems is these 'educators' trying to justify their jobs by thinking up new ways to teach.
Then there's discipline, no family unit, uneducated parents. The list is long but the first step is Get rid of the Dept. of Education.
I’m assuming that in both instances you were dealing with the public school system?
As an aside, anyone who’s interested should read up on what’s happening in the DC public school system. Some teachers were fired because they couldn’t pass the tests they needed to pass in two years. Guess what? The teacher’s union got them reinstated - with back pay! LOL. Teacher’s unions are a big part of the problem. The whole system is loaded with incompetent, greedy fools who know how to scam a dollar from the taxpayer, but little else.
“When I was in school, in first grade I was placed in the “lowest reader” class. My parents were furious; I learned to read at 3 yrs old, and entered kindergarden at age four. They marched into that school and demanded a comprehensive reading test be administered to me. I was already reading at a 3rd grade level because my parents taught me phonics”
Given how far ahead you were it’s pretty clear that they were trying to ‘level the field’ and make sure that you wouldn’t hurt the ‘self-esteem’ of the other precious children. LOL.
My case was different, but pretty funny. My parents were clueless when it came to educating kids (it almost seemed that they never heard of kids until we arrived), so we were totally entrusted to our ‘wonderful’ public school. For whatever reason, I had a terrible speech problem just as I was at the age to learn reading. So, they made me practice sounds as part of the therapy...which meant PHONICS...so I learned the right way, but only by accident. My younger sister wasn’t as lucky and still struggles decades later.
Do you really need to use the s-word to make your point?
I’m just glad that there are literate writers who understand today’s situation.