California does not teach kids to read

'All people are naturally political animals.  Politics is a dominant factor in how we run our daily affairs in both the public and private spheres.  The individual who sniffs that they are above or not concerned with politics is simply delusional or worse.   For humans politics is fundamental.'  Charles Krauthammer paraphrased.

George Rebane

In the 22jun24 WSJ we learn that California public schools are even worse than what we have discovered over the years since Great Society policies were launched in the late 1960s.  Former English teacher Daniel Buck, now at the Fordham Institute, writes ‘California Will Teach Kids Anything Except How to Read’, wherein he describes the latest neo-Marxist turn of the screw on children entrusted to the state for their education.  The bottom line of our grade school reading curricula is that “Gender ideology, social justice and Marxist ideas are all welcome in the classroom. Phonics isn’t.”

Most recently – “In 2021 the state ignited a brawl over its mandated ethnic-studies curriculum. Its content and instructional practices have roots in 1960s activism against American hegemony; the goal is to “liberate” students from the oppressive forces of capitalism, patriarchy and settler colonialism.

In 2023 California implemented a new mathematics framework, the first edition of which included “whiteness” and “social justice” as topics for instruction. The goal was to raise the “sociopolitical consciousness” of students—in math class. A revised framework was notably less political but required teachers to use a quantifiably ineffective approach to teaching called “discovery” learning, where students must be left to “discover” their way into long division or algebraic equations.”

As we have long pointed out in these pages, the evil Democratic Party needs legions of double dummies ‘graduating’ from progressive run academe to assure the re-election of socialist politicians whose ideology and the impact of their policies are not understood by their usual cohort of constituents.  This beat, not only goes on, but becomes stronger by the year.  An example staring us in the face daily is the output of polls showing enormous support for our Bumblebrain president.  One wonders who are these tens of millions of very light thinkers who walk around in a brain fog with no ability to give a reasonable basis for their political beliefs.

Comments

[scenes]

https://archive.is/1w67G

[Gregory]

Most of the teachers when they themselves were attending K-12 didn't learn to read or compute either.

Now we have Paolo Friere schools.

[Scott O]

Gregory 3:38 - I looked up Paolo Friere as he is new to me. Some of his complaints are valid if you consider individual teachers. But consider this line:
"Or else he expounds on a topic completely alien to the existential experience of the students."
OMG - tries to lift some poor kid out of his miserable existence into the great world beyond!
Why - the very idea that students should be exposed to something new! Heavens! And of course every teacher is supposed to be knowledgeable about every single child's "existential experience".
This is good:
"The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow."
So - 6 year olds pulling boogers out of their noses will "dialog" with the teacher. Hilarious. Ever try to "dialog" with a person possessing a 200 word vocabulary?
I actually doubt CA schools are even up to P Friere's level. Kids are simply filled with "straight white man bad" and "Democrats and big govt are your only hope" theology and shoved out the door at age 18 with a worthless document declaring them "high school graduates".

[Gregory]

Freire was a Marxist and didn't actually teach anyone to read.

He shouldn't be new to anyone as he is the most cited author in the social sciences.

Califorina schools are patterned after Freire.

[Scott O]

"He shouldn't be new to anyone"
He's new to me but I'm an old fart - BF Skinner was the "new wave" educator from my youth.
If he was a Marxists then most all of what he said about teaching was just blah blah. The last thing true Marxists want is an educated public.

[Gregory]

Skinner had nothing to do with Education.

No, Freire wasn't just blah blah blah. He rewrote the book on how to teach, and our Colleges of Education saluted the flag as it was raised.

[Gregory]

For a breath of fresh air about Education, watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs0s9kTFE5Y

[Paul Emery]

George, if you characterize Biden as being a Bumblebrain what one word would you use to characterize Trump?

[Gregory]

punch... not bumblebrain

don't you agree?

[scenes]

"what one word would you use to characterize Trump?

GodEmperor

I found a poster for your office.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402404756531

[Scott O]

Gregory - "No, Freire wasn't just blah blah blah"

You're getting to be as bad as Paul at reading comprehension. I wrote:
"If he was a Marxists then most all of what he said about teaching was just blah blah."
Marxists don't want an educated public. Observe the history of what Marxists govts do to the educated. Mao shipped them off to die in farm work camps and the Viet Cong loved to kill the educators they found in villages.
I don't care who followed or revered his writings. It was still blah blah. Lots of so-called educated people follow blah blah right down into the grave.
Also - "Skinner had nothing to do with Education."
Oh, OK - whatever. Here's just one of many, many examples:
https://www.bfskinner.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/New-Methods-aims-in-Teach.pdf

[Gregory]

the education desired by Marxists for their own is that which replicates Marxists, and what Friere provides does that well.

[Scott O]

Gregory 6:20 - Agreed, but I would prefer the term "indoctrination" to the term education.

Educated people have learned to practice critical thinking and are open to gaining knowledge from a wide range of sources. It is one of the hallmarks of Marxism that this is simply not allowed.
Yes - it seems Friere does a bang-up job of spewing Marxism, but his words on actual education are - IMHO - all a bunch of blah blah.
Your mileage may vary.

[George Rebane]

.BF Skinner invented programmed learning.

[Gregory]

Yes, Skinner did a bang-up job with programmed instruction, which is generally not confused with Education nowadays.

[George Rebane]

Gregory 815am - Yes, and according to my lights that's because Education itself is generally confused nowadays. Programmed instruction/learning is an extremely powerful educational paradigm, especially in its modern interactive online versions of delivery.

[Gregory]

Education is confused, yes. At the upper levels it distills the bottom of the barrel university students into even lesser fractions.

Hooked On Phonics worked well for my son when we found him in the first grade, unable to sound out words. The Grass Valley School District knew better than to expose their children to paleo approaches like phonics.

[scenes]

Not much of an opinion on school philosophy here as it's a foreign land, and I'm not exactly sure what the goal of public education is to begin with, but I've always wondered about the mechanism of 'thought leaders' (ie. Freire or Marx or whoever) and boots on the ground.

It isn't like educators or their bosses grind through these tomes looking for a bullet-item list, so maybe it's just a game of 'Telephone' as the whole thing is passed from one group to another. Thinkers writing about thinkers (and so on ad infinitum) ending up with some grifter making policy and handing out jobs to their friends.

I admit that scotto's 'blah blah' strikes a chord.

Worth a scan.

https://archive.org/details/idoc.pub_stanislav-andreski-social-sciences-as-sorcery/mode/2up

[Scott O]

"I'm not exactly sure what the goal of public education is to begin with"

The original idea was create a literate society to the general betterment of mankind.

A cynical person might say it was propelled forward in America in the industrial age so workers could read instructions and understand basic math so the factory owners would have a partially trained work force.

These days it's pretty clear the big wheels behind American govt run education want a monopoly to churn out semi-literate dolts brain-washed into being compliant robots to support and mesh with the New World Order.

One of the most vicious fights behind the scenes and now more out in the open is the fight over who can have access to public money for childrens' education.
Some states have passed laws allowing for vouchers to allow parents to choose a decent school for their kids.
I remember one of the first things Obama did was to end the vouchers in DC. Too many black children in DC were getting off the plantation and that had to end. His precious daughters of course went to a very expensive private school so they wouldn't have to go to school in the "jungle" as Biden put it.

[scenes]

"The original idea was create a literate society to the general betterment of mankind."

Honestly, I expect that any discussion of 'original ideas' bandied about in the current era would be in a language and concept that people in the days of yore wouldn't use or understand. A kind of historian's fallacy. Plus, organized education goes back a lot further than the short period of time that the US has been around.

It would probably be best to buy a Greek slave for a tutor and be done with it. You'd actually get more value for your money than the modern system.

I really should dig it up again, but I found a copy somewhere of the British East India Company test for prospective employees. The amount of knowledge you had to show was pretty darned breath-taking, and these people weren't considered geniuses, just civil servant new-hires.

[George Rebane]

As to the level of intellectual acumen, cultural cohesion, and public involvement required to maintain the democratic republic they bequeathed us, our Founders were completely unambiguous. America would only survive by practicing such arts of citizenship as part of their daily fare in how we organized our loosely coupled society. During his stateside odyssey De Tocqueville confirmed this by direct observation and was appropriately impressed. Today these social tools have been expunged by our public and most private institutions of education.

[Scott O]

My statement about education for the betterment of mankind was about the original idea in this country - I wasn't trying to rehash all of human history.
The founders wanted a literate society - our Republic needs that to work.
But the Dems and the left want nothing to do with a republic. A mob of uneducated proles with a system of pure democracy and a constitution used as a prop for bits and pieces to be trotted out on occasion for show. They're getting closer every day to their goal.

[Scott O]

for fun:
"Could You Pass This Eighth-Grade Exam From 1912?"

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/1912-eighth-grade-exam_n_3744163

"8th Grade Examination from late 1800's"

https://thinklab.typepad.com/think_lab/2006/03/8th_grade_exami.html

[Gregory]

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2024/06/16

[Paul Emery]

Scott

Scott says of the Dems "They're getting closer every day to their goal." What "goal " is that Scott? Can you be specific. In the meantime you and your types have championed a convicted felon and addicted liar for President of the United States. 34 felonies so far and more to come. Here's a typical Trump lie "I didn't have sex with a porn star".

[Gregory]

Punchy... got any photos 'o that?

There were two people in a position to know. One still says it never happened.

[Paul Emery]

So Gregory are you saying Stormy D lied under oath that she was bonked by Trump? What possible reason would she have for doing that?

[Paul Emery]

The question Gregory is did Trump lie under oath.

[Don Bessee]

Something tells me the po' ol' ponytail of ignorance is in the 33 percent deniers -

The CNN poll posted on air showed that 67% of debate watchers felt that Trump won the debate compared to 33% who believe Biden won the debate.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/cnn-flash-poll-shows-trump-043316376.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink

;-)

[Paul Emery]

Don

Do you believe Trump was telling the truth when he said "I didn't have sex with a porn star" ?

[Scott O]

Hilarious!
from Paul:
"Scott says of the Dems "They're getting closer every day to their goal." What "goal " is that Scott? Can you be specific."
That - after I pointed out specifically what the Dems were working towards.
But I guess if you have a memory retention span measured in nano-seconds...
and
"What possible reason would she have for doing that?"
well... lessee...
"Stormy Daniels ordered to pay Trump team another $120,000 in legal fees"
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/04/politics/stormy-daniels-pay-trump-legal-fees/index.html
We know for a fact she's lied about her involvement with Trump, but she gets Paul hot in the britches, so he wants to hang on her every word even though her story kinda changes depending on whether she's on TV or in court.

[Paul Emery]

Can you show me the factual source for this statement Scott?

"We know for a fact she's lied about her involvement with Trump, but she gets Paul hot in the britches, so he wants to hang on her every word even though her story kinda changes depending on whether she's on TV or in court."

[Scott O]

Hilarious!
"Can you show me the factual source for this statement Scott?"
Uh - you quoted from it yourself, Paul - my 5:52!