Here you go.
Full disclosure. We think that there is nothing more harmful than a School of Education at your local college or university. Nothing. Releasing every person charged with child abuse from our prisons and ensuring them a lifetime of employment at your local school would do less harm than what the inaptly named School of Education does.
Schools of Education typically have the lowest SAT scores of any program at college. Including pablum like Ethnic Studies. We believe that’s why graduates of education programs certainly seem to be, as a group, the dimmest bulbs in the box.
Consider this: When your children go to school to learn math, they’re often taught by someone who may not have studied math extensively. Instead, their teacher might have only taken a basic algebra class and focused more on education in college. And what about history? It makes you wonder if colleges still prioritize teaching it.
Common Core is the product of these dunces. So was “whole language” reading instruction.
Whole language, introduced in the 1980s as an alternative to phonics, was developed by an education professor at Arizona State University. According to Wikipedia, the goals of whole language include:
- Focusing on understanding the meaning of what is read and expressing meaning in writing.
- Using constructivist approaches to learning, where students interpret text and freely express ideas in writing, often through daily journal entries.
- Emphasizing high-quality and culturally diverse literature.
- Integrating literacy into other subjects like math, science, and social studies.
- Fostering a love for books and engaging reading materials.
California adopted whole language, but its students’ reading skills, previously strong when taught with phonics, declined rapidly. Within seven years, California dropped to 45th in national reading rankings, with 77% of its fourth graders reading below their grade level.
