Love John McWhorter's intelligence, wit and humor. Really liked this conversation where you both dug deeply into the issues.
As a long-term social activist (read: old), I am very solution-oriented and I think this is where McWhorter stumbles a bit. First of all, as an early childhood educator (retired), I think just adding phonics, eve…
Love John McWhorter's intelligence, wit and humor. Really liked this conversation where you both dug deeply into the issues.
As a long-term social activist (read: old), I am very solution-oriented and I think this is where McWhorter stumbles a bit. First of all, as an early childhood educator (retired), I think just adding phonics, even well-taught, to the educational curriculum is too glib a solution. Disadvantaged children often start school with lower vocabulary, not nearly as much experience with books and reading as many middle class kids, and less knowledge of phonemic awareness (which needs to precede phonics.) So let's get some nuance into the reading discussion -- no, we don't need to relitigate the "reading wars".
We do need to understand child development. Also, what does it mean to eliminate the War on Drugs? In West Coast cities, there is little prosecution and therefore few arrests for low level drug possession. We have needles in our parks, drug addicts shooting up in our public areas, and many drug addicts living homeless and in poverty. Again, let's look at some nuance to dealing with the issues of drug addiction in society.
Love John McWhorter's intelligence, wit and humor. Really liked this conversation where you both dug deeply into the issues.
As a long-term social activist (read: old), I am very solution-oriented and I think this is where McWhorter stumbles a bit. First of all, as an early childhood educator (retired), I think just adding phonics, even well-taught, to the educational curriculum is too glib a solution. Disadvantaged children often start school with lower vocabulary, not nearly as much experience with books and reading as many middle class kids, and less knowledge of phonemic awareness (which needs to precede phonics.) So let's get some nuance into the reading discussion -- no, we don't need to relitigate the "reading wars".
We do need to understand child development. Also, what does it mean to eliminate the War on Drugs? In West Coast cities, there is little prosecution and therefore few arrests for low level drug possession. We have needles in our parks, drug addicts shooting up in our public areas, and many drug addicts living homeless and in poverty. Again, let's look at some nuance to dealing with the issues of drug addiction in society.