President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Man, I tore up the school library as well as the public library. I even worked as a library aide in 3rd, 6th, and 11th grade. It meant that I got first shot at all new books plus I was very familiar with most of what was on the shelves, so I always had several more books in the queue. I devoured books year round.

I was taught to read using phonics in the first grade, and by 2nd I was reading for pleasure in quantity. Once I discovered that the books with the little hydrogen atom and V2 rocket label were SF and fantasy I was all up in those. I got into the story collections very early, and the writers whose stories I liked sent me into the novels of Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Silverberg, Dickson and many other good writers.

Did it get me a nerd label? Probably. Did I give a dry cat turd about it? Hell no.

 

How should kids think?

Stories like this do not help endear teachers to parents.

The Massive Effort to Change the Way Kids Are Taught to Read

 

Here’s a question, “ hey parents how are YOU teaching your kids to read?”

The problem with schools is the parents complaining inevitably are the ones who do the least to teach their kids. They leave it all to the teachers, then complain.

 

Beschloss has Pence's historical precedent right here, pal:

 

Yeah, the New York City mayor, mandating that phonics-based instruction be re-introduced, sure does strike me as one of those Lazy Karen types.

 

He only strikes me as the weirdest man alive.

 

Living in Ft. Lee will do that to you.

 

Now that there is one helluva compelling competition.

 

I have to side with Alma here, at least to some degree. I was taught to read using phonics in the early 1960's in Episcopal parochial school. I learned that if I didn't know a word, could not work out what it meant from context, or was not sure how to pronounce it, to go to the dictionary and look it up. I read well above grade level from then on. I never took any classes in education, but it is my belief that phonics is an invaluable tool for teaching reading skills.

I'm not sure that I go along with attaching not using phonics to "being woke". I understand that Black English usage is informed by slang and non-standard usage, but Ebonics and pushing Black English in schools does those children no favors in terms of general learning or in the job market. That's been going on for a couple of decades, though, well before "woke" was a thing, more of a Black pride or nationalism thing to my eyes... but I'm an old White guy, so maybe that's just my perception.

 

I am so glad I was in the control class that did NOT spend two years learning ITA in the '60s. It was a ridiculous concept, and it set those kids back 3-4 years.

https://theliteracyblog.com/2015/05/14/i-t-a-a-great-idea-but-a-dismal-failure/

 

I loved reading as a kid. I remember going to the school library and checking out "Chariots of the Gods" and was fascinated. What irks me the most is these questions about the offerings is marginalia, that's not how a kid goes off the deep end. Exposing them to the Communist Manifesto doesn't lead to a communist. Some of Marx's key thoughts remain with me nearly 40 years after I read it, yet I never once wanted to go to Cuba/China/USSR/Venezuela/Vietnam to put his words into action. Parents need to focus on the core issues, "how are you telling your kids education is important?", "do you inquire about what they are studying?" , "Do you more importantly, engage with them on what they are studying?? IMHO, that's the key to academic success, not what's on the last bookshelf of the library.