This is what I've always said about how necessary phonics are in learning to read! -- Elucidations

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Subject:

This is what I've always said about how necessary phonics are in learning to read!

Author:
Loraine

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Date Posted: 09/27/04 20:18

From the book A Matter of Character - Inside the White House of George W. Bush by Ronald Kessler

Chapter 25: The CEO President, page 282:

"Traditionally, liberals have been the champions of the underdog. Yet, liberal politicians and educators were the ones who sneered at requiring regular reading tests in schools. They maintained that blacks and Hispanics, without the cultural advantages of whites, could be expected to fail reading tests. That attitude was what Bush called the 'soft bigotry of low expectations'. In Texas, Bush had proven them dead wrong. By introducing phonics and extra help, he brought the rate of third graders who could not read down from a scandalous 23% to less than 2%. As president, he {is/}was trying-despite resistance from Democratic politicians, education colleges, and teachers' unions- to do the same thing nationally. Rather than underfunding programs, as the Democrats maintained he was doing, since taking office he had increased federal spending on education by 49%. He saw children hurting....he rolled up his sleeves, immersed himself in the scientific evidence about how kids learn to read, and for the first time held schools and teachers accountable for using the only reading method proven to work-phonics...."

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