My own sense is that American public education is much more 1) politicized, 2) isolated, and 3) ossified than people normally realize. It appears to function more like a religion than an intellectual enterprise. Does the Pope care what you think about religious matters? Similarly, does the Education Establishment care what you think about educational matters? Not even a smidgen. I suspect we’ll have change only when the public angrily demands it. Or Donald Trump has a meeting with the top 1000 education commissars and says, “You’re fired.”
One thing is sure: we desperately need new people at the top and new thinking. Jay Leno shows us why.
For the background on the original Educator of the Year award and related articles, visit: http://www.improve-education.org/id50.html
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RE: DYSLEXIA. My only quibble with Jay Leno is his casual references to his dyslexia. He speaks as if it’s a genetic given. That is, of course, the official view of the so-called reading experts who have so far managed to create 50 million functional illiterates and, as well, 1 million dyslexics. In short, Leno may not have a genetic condition at all. He may have a set of bad habits given to him by sight-word reading instruction. As Siegfried Engelmann, one of our great educators, noted: “What dyslexia? I call it dysteachia.” It would be great if Leno read up on his condition, realized that faulty teaching might be part of his problem, and helped others in the same condition. (In a few words: phonics experts maintain that when children try to memorize words as designs or configurations, these kids will invariably start to exhibit symptoms of dyslexia; because English words are phonetic objects, remarkably similar in appearance, that were NEVER intended to be memorized as visual designs.) For more about reading, see “42: Reading Resources” on Improve-Education.org.
YouTube video about dyslexia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeFLLnRWROQ
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Well, the fact that so manny voted for Obama and the Democrats in 08 and are likely to do so again in 2012 proves this is not just a recent fenomena, as many senior citisens voted for Obama and the new democrates as well.
You know what they say, I you don’t vote for sosial issues when you are young, you don’t have a heart. and if you don’t vote Concervative by the time you are fourty, you don’t have a Brain
My favorite “Jaywalking” exchange:
Jay: “Which US President was known as ‘Tricky Dick’?”
Young blonde: “Bill Clinton???”