Reading scores in this nation are abysmal. Much of this is due to the crummy "sight reading" method and a lack of phonics. I think we can all agree that it is in the best interest of this country to have a literate populace.
Fifty years ago school boards looked at curricula and set goals. Local control worked well, and I attended a school that, while overcrowded due to the baby boom, had a very advanced and strict set of expectations. I learned phonics, history, handwriting, spelling, arithmetic, etc. with no time wasted on self-esteem, social justice, and diversity education.
Today, however, local schools districts are up against the NEA and leftist schools of education. Reading instruction is ineffective, and any attempt to go back to phonics is shouted down by the NEA union representatives and university education "experts."
The standards set in the No Child Left Behind Act are federal standards which districts must meet in order to get federal money. It's sort of a carrot and stick approach. Those standards are set, and no matter how much the nEA gripes, school boards now have ammunition to fight the union's no-teaching policy.
Whether this will work or not is something we will have to wait and see.
However, given that abolishing the Department of Education is almost an impossibility since the public equates that action with being against education, it seems to me that getting the department to actually DO something and that there is now a way to fight the NEA, it isn't necessarily such a bad thing.
I would prefer that education be handled the way it was in my childhood, but leftists have taken control of the education establishment, and until the NEA is disbanded and universities throw the communists out of their education departments, this is probably the only way to counter the failing achievement of the nation's students.
BTW, what happened to the school vouchers that Bush and his crowd campaigned on?
That is very true, and I said the exact same thing the other day to a friend. I teach my kids to sound the word out, like I was taught. Not only do they remember the word they sound, it gives them a skill to figure out other words they don't know or haven't yet remembered. You've nailed the core problem.
"The standards set in the No Child Left Behind Act are federal standards which districts must meet in order to get federal money."
It is all about the money. I would so love to see a school district tell the feds to keep their money, similar to what Hillsdale College has done. I doubt it will ever happen, but I continue to hope.
I learned reading the old-fashioned way. I read four or five books a week and my reading speed is very high. When I was introduced to phonics, I thought they were confusing and didn't do much for spelling ability, either.
Carolyn