New ‘Science of Reading’ is Old-Fashioned Phonics

Major media reports have been touting the “science of reading” approach to literacy, perhaps at least partially in response to the latest dismal National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores in reading and math. Last April, PBS News Hour posted an article titled “Why more U.S. schools are embracing a new ‘science of reading,’” positing that the term “refers to decades of research in fields including brain science that point to effective strategies for teaching kids to read.”

On December 4, the New York Times published an article on this topic under the headline “What Costs $1,000 Per Student and Might Help Children Learn to Read?” which highlighted a newly released Annenberg Working Paper on The Achievement Effects of Scaling Early Literacy Reforms. The paper analyzed and found positive the results stemming from a California program that, while cost-effective, “emphasized training teachers in the principles of the science of reading, a movement focused on foundational skills such as phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension.”

The Sinister Intent of ‘Decolonization’

“Decolonization” has become a buzzword for the “oppressed” and “oppressor” worldview, and has been cropping up more and more frequently in the news, online, and around the world. A recent New York Times article aptly stated: “As an insult, or line of attack, ‘colonial’ is enjoying a field day,” implying that “colonialism” or the international progress that “has shaped modernity” is now to be vilified and dismantled.

Pundits and news outlets like the New York Times are jumping on the bandwagon of the Palestinian cause “as an extension of the powerful movements for racial and social justice that have unfurled, particularly in the United States, since 2020. In 2021, Black Lives Matter issued a statement declaring ‘solidarity with Palestinians’ and opposition to ‘settler colonialism in all forms.’”

New Textbook Codifies Trans Craze

It was only a matter of time before the attempts to force normalization of the abnormal and deny undeniable biological reality would be codified in a textbook with which to “train,” or more accurately, to indoctrinate, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. The release of Gender-Affirming Psychiatric Care, a textbook newly printed by American Psychiatric Association (APA) Publishing, promises to add false legitimacy to the already out-of-control push to “transition” children and teens.

The Epoch Times posted an article on November 30 charging that, according to critics, this new transgender textbook “could harm millions of kids.” The book’s foreword indicates it was written by 56 different authors, 50 of whom are members of the transgender community. Critics question its “reliance on a mix of transgender-identifying professionals writing about their experiences, limited scientific studies, and neo-Marxist critical theories.”