My husband and I saw some English practice books for sixth-graders, used in the 50s, in an antique store yesterday. After thumbing through them, I came to the conclusion that if we went back to that old style of teaching, our kids would be better off.
I remember struggling with my son, trying to get him to do the tons of homework the teachers piled up on him every night. The current philosophy seems to be to pile facts upon facts on kids, but teach them no context within which to place the facts. If only context, not quantity of facts, were stressed.
I know they would -- I learned via that method. But have you ever considered that the refusal by "professional educators" to teach phonics is an element of the "dumbing America down" Project?
A well-read, informed America would no doubt complicate efforts to impose Marxism on us.
I’m fascinated by talk of too much homework. Your comment jibes with my sense that homework is just another trick: even as kids are deliberately confused, the educators can say, hey, we tried, your children are dumb, that’s not our fault.
A short smart lesson is always better than a long, incoherent lesson.