What if illiteracy is the goal after all? Shouldn’t parents be informed which schools are committed to literacy — and which are not? Then parents could choose if they want their children to be able to read and think for themselves or just be a member of a collaborating community?
Kevin Donnelly has just raised the question of Marxism in Australian schools and Greg mentions “Marxism-inspired critical literacy”.
Please read the Australian, Aug 21, Wear it Purple Day and other cultural-left moves sending us puce — http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/wear-it-purple-day-and-other-culturalleft-moves-sending-us-puce/news-story/7c3252539f51320173ef3ab78aa38718
It’s important for people who do value reading, and who believe in proven methods, to appreciate the climate that prevails in some schools. From Kevin’s story and the comments it seems that, according to a former Education Minister (Joan Kirner, 1983), that education should not be “an instrument of the capitalist system” but “part of the socialist struggle for equality, participation and social change.” What chance is there for phonics in such a climate?
[published as comment to Greg Ashman’s blog, Filling the Pail, topic What Australian Parents Need to Know About the Reading Wars, August 12 ]