I’ll spell it out: if children can’t read, lives are ruined

This article comes out of Britain, but fits our system as well.  Here is the very frank opening paragraph:

"This country’s education system is a betrayal of this country’s children. It blunts their intelligence, narrows their perspectives and blasts their future prospects. How often does that need to be said? Of course it is not universally true; many children defy the system, one way or another. But the point is that the system is bad. If the word “institutionally” means anything, this country’s education system is institutionally unfit for purpose."

The schools have been focussed on testing with the result that the broader curriculum has been neglected.  The children have been denied a wide and deep  education in favor of teaching-to-the-test minimalism.  Unfortunately, this hyper attention to testing is not working. 

 In yet another attempt to plug the holes, some argue that arts and humanities need to be re-invigorated.  

"However, there is no point in proposing a wide and imaginative course of study for children who cannot read well. A child who cannot read well cannot learn. He or she cannot possibly share the riches of a wide education or the freedom of the literate mind to teach and enrich itself when others can’t or won’t. And the reason our schools fail so badly, the reason teachers teach narrowly to the dubious “literacy” tests, is that they have failed to teach little children to read properly in the first place."

This is a fundamental issue in American schools as well.  A good education MUST be broad, but it is pointless to introduce art and philosophy if the 3 Rs are weak.  Children need a strong foundation to build on.

For those who are tempted to think that problems in the UK's system really are not comparable to ours, know that the US ranks lower than the UK in international comparison testing.  This is true for math & science comparisons and literacy comparisons.

Full article: The Sunday Times