Posted 9:25 AM by Susan Darst Williams

BIRD-DOGGING ALTERNATIVES TO PUBLIC ED

A friend sent a passionate article by a California woman, Debbie O’Hara, published Oct. 5 on www.NewsWithViews.com, ‘’The Sinister Agenda Behind America’s High Illiteracy.’’

The gist of it is that closet socialists have made Americans dumb on purpose and reversed our formerly high rates of literacy by installing boneheaded teaching methods in our public schools over the past several decades.

I don’t buy all of that. But I do believe it was a grievous error to wipe out the proper instruction of phonics in the early grades to teach reading, and switch to the ‘’Dick and Jane’’ picture book style. Phonics is text-based and builds intellect and vocabulary. Whole language, in stark contrast, is image-based and makes children less facile with text. They don’t read as well, they don’t spell as well, they don’t understand as many words, and presto! They don’t think as well.

Whether you think there’s a massive anti-American conspiracy behind this or not, the article provides an astounding reference list for anyone who, like me, might be researching the alternatives to public education. We have a 4-year-old, and things have changed a whole bunch since our oldest, now 21, was going into kindergarten.

This week, I’ll give short reports on some of these, with a Nebraska connection where I can make it:

Alliance for the Separation of School & State:
http://honested.com/

SepCon2004: SepCon2004 is the conference for those who recognize that school-by-government simply cannot be reformed. If we are to ever achieve honest education -- where teachers can honestly tell parents what they are teaching -- we must end government involvement in schooling: http://sepcon.org/index.php

Considering Homeschooling:
http://www.consideringhomeschooling.org/

Exodus Mandate Project:
http://www.exodusmandate.org/

GetTheKidsOut.org:
http://www.getthekidsout.org

Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview:
http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes/HBW-C.htm

Let My Children Go:
http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes/LMCG-C.htm

Nehemiah Institute, Inc.:
http://tinyurl.com/7ga0

Parents United in Responsibility for Education (PURE):
http://www.pureducation.com

Rescue 2010:
http://www.nace-cee.org/rescue2010.htm

SBC Christian Education Resolution:
http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes/sbccer.htm

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Related Article Web Links |||
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21 Ways "Public Schools" Harm Your Children:
http://honested.com/edlib/v3n2/21ways.php

America's Failing Public Education System:
http://tinyurl.com/o4mr

Education: What Pastors and Parents Need to Know:
http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes/pastors.htm

The Failure of American Education:
http://tinyurl.com/5u2jo

How Government Control -- Even Local -- Has Ruined Education:
http://honested.com/essays/fritz/wash_u.php

Teachers, Curriculum, Control: A "World" of Difference in Public and Private Schools:
http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes/teachers.htm

The Underground History of American Education:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/top_undergound.htm

What’s Really Wrong with Public Schools?:
http://tinyurl.com/64f4j