Phonics Claimd To Be Pushed By Feds

[Peter Farruggio]

For example, check out this Jan 28, 2002 article in The Nation
magazine.  It explains the ideological affinity of conservatives for
phonics and standardized testing, as well as the big money to be made (and
being made) by the politically connected Ed publishing companies (on
mandated tests and phonics texts), as well as the generations-long social
connections between the Bushes and McGraws (of McGraw-Hill Inc)

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020128&s=metcalf

Pete Farruggio

At 04:48 PM 9/10/02, you wrote:
>The Bush support of phonics as the only way to reading proficiency is an old
>story.  As governor he spoke out strongly, insisting that phonics is the
>only scientifically valid approach to the teaching of reading.  His
>comprehension of what scientific validity might be is worth questioning, but
>it's another case of his ability to making a thing so by saying it.
>
>Herb Stahlke
>
> > From the Washington Post:
> >
> > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59455-2002Sep9.html
> >
> > The Bush administration is making a concerted effort to promote the
> > teaching of phonics in America's classrooms, and in the process, some
> > educators charge, advancing specific commercial reading products.
> >
> > Administration officials say they want to end a national crisis in
> > which almost 70 percent of low-income fourth-grade students cannot read
> > at a basic level, and they deny usurping local authority by telling
> > schools what specific programs to use.
> >
> >   "We can't do that nor would we want to," said Susan B. Neuman,
> > assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the
> > Education Department. "What we want is a proliferation of excellence.
> > We want more programs out there that are doing wonderful things. And we
> > would be crazy to narrow the field."
> >
> > Some educators, however, charge that the Education Department is so
> > narrowly prescribing what states can do with new federal reading funds
> > that the federal government is violating the clause in the country's
> > new K-12 education law that bars federal authorities from involvement
> > in local curriculum and instructional content.
> >
> > --
> > Grant Barrett
> > gbarrett at worldnewyork.org
> > Small Business Apple Macintosh Support in New York City
> > http://www.worldnewyork.org/
> >