Rebane's Ruminations
June 2024
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'All people are naturally political animals.  Politics is a dominant factor in how we run our daily affairs in both the public and private spheres.  The individual who sniffs that they are above or not concerned with politics is simply delusional or worse.   For humans politics is fundamental.'  Charles Krauthammer paraphrased.

George Rebane

In the 22jun24 WSJ we learn that California public schools are even worse than what we have discovered over the years since Great Society policies were launched in the late 1960s.  Former English teacher Daniel Buck, now at the Fordham Institute, writes โ€˜California Will Teach Kids Anything Except How to Readโ€™, wherein he describes the latest neo-Marxist turn of the screw on children entrusted to the state for their education.  The bottom line of our grade school reading curricula is that โ€œGender ideology, social justice and Marxist ideas are all welcome in the classroom. Phonics isnโ€™t.โ€

Most recently โ€“ โ€œIn 2021 the state ignited a brawl over its mandated ethnic-studies curriculum. Its content and instructional practices have roots in 1960s activism against American hegemony; the goal is to โ€œliberateโ€ students from the oppressive forces of capitalism, patriarchy and settler colonialism.

In 2023 California implemented a new mathematics framework, the first edition of which included โ€œwhitenessโ€ and โ€œsocial justiceโ€ as topics for instruction. The goal was to raise the โ€œsociopolitical consciousnessโ€ of studentsโ€”in math class. A revised framework was notably less political but required teachers to use a quantifiably ineffective approach to teaching called โ€œdiscoveryโ€ learning, where students must be left to โ€œdiscoverโ€ their way into long division or algebraic equations.โ€

As we have long pointed out in these pages, the evil Democratic Party needs legions of double dummies โ€˜graduatingโ€™ from progressive run academe to assure the re-election of socialist politicians whose ideology and the impact of their policies are not understood by their usual cohort of constituents.  This beat, not only goes on, but becomes stronger by the year.  An example staring us in the face daily is the output of polls showing enormous support for our Bumblebrain president.  One wonders who are these tens of millions of very light thinkers who walk around in a brain fog with no ability to give a reasonable basis for their political beliefs.

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33 responses to “California does not teach kids to read”

  1. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Most of the teachers when they themselves were attending K-12 didn’t learn to read or compute either.
    Now we have Paolo Friere schools.

    Like

  2. Scott O Avatar

    Gregory 3:38 – I looked up Paolo Friere as he is new to me. Some of his complaints are valid if you consider individual teachers. But consider this line:
    “Or else he expounds on a topic completely alien to the existential experience of the students.”
    OMG – tries to lift some poor kid out of his miserable existence into the great world beyond!
    Why – the very idea that students should be exposed to something new! Heavens! And of course every teacher is supposed to be knowledgeable about every single child’s “existential experience”.
    This is good:
    “The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow.”
    So – 6 year olds pulling boogers out of their noses will “dialog” with the teacher. Hilarious. Ever try to “dialog” with a person possessing a 200 word vocabulary?
    I actually doubt CA schools are even up to P Friere’s level. Kids are simply filled with “straight white man bad” and “Democrats and big govt are your only hope” theology and shoved out the door at age 18 with a worthless document declaring them “high school graduates”.

    Like

  3. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Freire was a Marxist and didn’t actually teach anyone to read.
    He shouldn’t be new to anyone as he is the most cited author in the social sciences.
    Califorina schools are patterned after Freire.

    Like

  4. Scott O Avatar

    “He shouldn’t be new to anyone”
    He’s new to me but I’m an old fart – BF Skinner was the “new wave” educator from my youth.
    If he was a Marxists then most all of what he said about teaching was just blah blah. The last thing true Marxists want is an educated public.

    Like

  5. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Skinner had nothing to do with Education.
    No, Freire wasn’t just blah blah blah. He rewrote the book on how to teach, and our Colleges of Education saluted the flag as it was raised.

    Like

  6. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    For a breath of fresh air about Education, watch this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs0s9kTFE5Y

    Like

  7. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    George, if you characterize Biden as being a Bumblebrain what one word would you use to characterize Trump?

    Like

  8. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    punch… not bumblebrain
    don’t you agree?

    Like

  9. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “what one word would you use to characterize Trump?
    GodEmperor
    I found a poster for your office.
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/402404756531

    Like

  10. Scott O Avatar

    Gregory – “No, Freire wasn’t just blah blah blah”
    You’re getting to be as bad as Paul at reading comprehension. I wrote:
    “If he was a Marxists then most all of what he said about teaching was just blah blah.”
    Marxists don’t want an educated public. Observe the history of what Marxists govts do to the educated. Mao shipped them off to die in farm work camps and the Viet Cong loved to kill the educators they found in villages.
    I don’t care who followed or revered his writings. It was still blah blah. Lots of so-called educated people follow blah blah right down into the grave.
    Also – “Skinner had nothing to do with Education.”
    Oh, OK – whatever. Here’s just one of many, many examples:
    https://www.bfskinner.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/New-Methods-aims-in-Teach.pdf

    Like

  11. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    the education desired by Marxists for their own is that which replicates Marxists, and what Friere provides does that well.

    Like

  12. Scott O Avatar

    Gregory 6:20 – Agreed, but I would prefer the term “indoctrination” to the term education.
    Educated people have learned to practice critical thinking and are open to gaining knowledge from a wide range of sources. It is one of the hallmarks of Marxism that this is simply not allowed.
    Yes – it seems Friere does a bang-up job of spewing Marxism, but his words on actual education are – IMHO – all a bunch of blah blah.
    Your mileage may vary.

    Like

  13. George Rebane Avatar

    .BF Skinner invented programmed learning.

    Like

  14. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Yes, Skinner did a bang-up job with programmed instruction, which is generally not confused with Education nowadays.

    Like

  15. George Rebane Avatar

    Gregory 815am – Yes, and according to my lights that’s because Education itself is generally confused nowadays. Programmed instruction/learning is an extremely powerful educational paradigm, especially in its modern interactive online versions of delivery.

    Like

  16. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Education is confused, yes. At the upper levels it distills the bottom of the barrel university students into even lesser fractions.
    Hooked On Phonics worked well for my son when we found him in the first grade, unable to sound out words. The Grass Valley School District knew better than to expose their children to paleo approaches like phonics.

    Like

  17. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    Not much of an opinion on school philosophy here as it’s a foreign land, and I’m not exactly sure what the goal of public education is to begin with, but I’ve always wondered about the mechanism of ‘thought leaders’ (ie. Freire or Marx or whoever) and boots on the ground.
    It isn’t like educators or their bosses grind through these tomes looking for a bullet-item list, so maybe it’s just a game of ‘Telephone’ as the whole thing is passed from one group to another. Thinkers writing about thinkers (and so on ad infinitum) ending up with some grifter making policy and handing out jobs to their friends.
    I admit that scotto’s ‘blah blah’ strikes a chord.
    Worth a scan.
    https://archive.org/details/idoc.pub_stanislav-andreski-social-sciences-as-sorcery/mode/2up

    Like

  18. Scott O Avatar

    “I’m not exactly sure what the goal of public education is to begin with”
    The original idea was create a literate society to the general betterment of mankind.
    A cynical person might say it was propelled forward in America in the industrial age so workers could read instructions and understand basic math so the factory owners would have a partially trained work force.
    These days it’s pretty clear the big wheels behind American govt run education want a monopoly to churn out semi-literate dolts brain-washed into being compliant robots to support and mesh with the New World Order.
    One of the most vicious fights behind the scenes and now more out in the open is the fight over who can have access to public money for childrens’ education.
    Some states have passed laws allowing for vouchers to allow parents to choose a decent school for their kids.
    I remember one of the first things Obama did was to end the vouchers in DC. Too many black children in DC were getting off the plantation and that had to end. His precious daughters of course went to a very expensive private school so they wouldn’t have to go to school in the “jungle” as Biden put it.

    Like

  19. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “The original idea was create a literate society to the general betterment of mankind.”
    Honestly, I expect that any discussion of ‘original ideas’ bandied about in the current era would be in a language and concept that people in the days of yore wouldn’t use or understand. A kind of historian’s fallacy. Plus, organized education goes back a lot further than the short period of time that the US has been around.
    It would probably be best to buy a Greek slave for a tutor and be done with it. You’d actually get more value for your money than the modern system.
    I really should dig it up again, but I found a copy somewhere of the British East India Company test for prospective employees. The amount of knowledge you had to show was pretty darned breath-taking, and these people weren’t considered geniuses, just civil servant new-hires.

    Like

  20. George Rebane Avatar

    As to the level of intellectual acumen, cultural cohesion, and public involvement required to maintain the democratic republic they bequeathed us, our Founders were completely unambiguous. America would only survive by practicing such arts of citizenship as part of their daily fare in how we organized our loosely coupled society. During his stateside odyssey De Tocqueville confirmed this by direct observation and was appropriately impressed. Today these social tools have been expunged by our public and most private institutions of education.

    Like

  21. Scott O Avatar

    My statement about education for the betterment of mankind was about the original idea in this country – I wasn’t trying to rehash all of human history.
    The founders wanted a literate society – our Republic needs that to work.
    But the Dems and the left want nothing to do with a republic. A mob of uneducated proles with a system of pure democracy and a constitution used as a prop for bits and pieces to be trotted out on occasion for show. They’re getting closer every day to their goal.

    Like

  22. Scott O Avatar

    for fun:
    “Could You Pass This Eighth-Grade Exam From 1912?”
    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/1912-eighth-grade-exam_n_3744163
    “8th Grade Examination from late 1800’s”
    https://thinklab.typepad.com/think_lab/2006/03/8th_grade_exami.html

    Like

  23. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Scott
    Scott says of the Dems “They’re getting closer every day to their goal.” What “goal ” is that Scott? Can you be specific. In the meantime you and your types have championed a convicted felon and addicted liar for President of the United States. 34 felonies so far and more to come. Here’s a typical Trump lie “I didn’t have sex with a porn star”.

    Like

  24. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Punchy… got any photos ‘o that?
    There were two people in a position to know. One still says it never happened.

    Like

  25. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    So Gregory are you saying Stormy D lied under oath that she was bonked by Trump? What possible reason would she have for doing that?

    Like

  26. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    The question Gregory is did Trump lie under oath.

    Like

  27. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Something tells me the po’ ol’ ponytail of ignorance is in the 33 percent deniers –
    The CNN poll posted on air showed that 67% of debate watchers felt that Trump won the debate compared to 33% who believe Biden won the debate.
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/cnn-flash-poll-shows-trump-043316376.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink
    ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Like

  28. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Don
    Do you believe Trump was telling the truth when he said “I didn’t have sex with a porn star” ?

    Like

  29. Scott O Avatar

    Hilarious!
    from Paul:
    “Scott says of the Dems “They’re getting closer every day to their goal.” What “goal ” is that Scott? Can you be specific.”
    That – after I pointed out specifically what the Dems were working towards.
    But I guess if you have a memory retention span measured in nano-seconds…
    and
    “What possible reason would she have for doing that?”
    well… lessee…
    “Stormy Daniels ordered to pay Trump team another $120,000 in legal fees”
    https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/04/politics/stormy-daniels-pay-trump-legal-fees/index.html
    We know for a fact she’s lied about her involvement with Trump, but she gets Paul hot in the britches, so he wants to hang on her every word even though her story kinda changes depending on whether she’s on TV or in court.

    Like

  30. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Can you show me the factual source for this statement Scott?
    “We know for a fact she’s lied about her involvement with Trump, but she gets Paul hot in the britches, so he wants to hang on her every word even though her story kinda changes depending on whether she’s on TV or in court.”

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  31. Scott O Avatar

    Hilarious!
    “Can you show me the factual source for this statement Scott?”
    Uh – you quoted from it yourself, Paul – my 5:52!

    Like

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