[RightField]

We do, Amen and Amen. I asked a principle at on of our k-3 schools (they now call them campuses) what if our first grader did not learn enough to be put in second grade? She informed me that they do not retain kids in the same grade the following year. I then asked when we could expect extra help for a slow learner. She told me that they evaluate the kids in the third grade and then would provide adequate help. I then said, you have just destroyed this kids ability to learn and he/she will never get enough foundation to be successful. We opted for homeschool.

My son was in public school 2nd grade in the fall of 1994. At the first parent/teacher conference of the year in October, I asked the teacher when we could expect that he would start learning addition and subtraction facts. We were concerned because there seemed to be no real learning of either language or math skills in the 1st grade. She told me that if learning arithmetic was a concern to me, I should work on those skills at home.

That parent/teacher conference was on a Tuesday. Friday was his last day at that school as we brought him home to homeschool. They weren't teaching him to read, either. Just memorize words under the horrid "whole language" method of reading.

Now he's a sophmore in college, making excellent grades, etc. I shudder to think what would have happened to him if we hadn't rescued him from that system.

[Nevadan]

re: They weren’t teaching him to read, either. Just memorize words under the horrid “whole language” method of reading.

What I find so curious is that many elementary teachers these days eschew teaching their students to memorize basic math facts because doing so requires “rote learning”. Yet, these same teachers will require their students to memorize words when teaching their students to read using the “whole language” method of reading. In other words, they use “rote learning”.