Short, read it all!-----WHAT’S MOST NOTABLE IS THAT THAT THEY’VE BECOME A BASTION OF BAD IDEAS IS TAKEN FOR GRANTED

Instapundit Blog Archive 

"WHAT’S MOST NOTABLE IS THAT THAT THEY’VE BECOME A BASTION OF BAD IDEAS IS TAKEN FOR GRANTED: Erik Gilbert: How Ed Schools Became a Bastion of Bad Ideas.

A few years ago, when I was on my university’s Graduate Council, a new course proposal came to us from our College of Education. The proposal referred to the different learning styles of students, something that struck me as odd — I remembered having heard years before that the learning-styles theory had been discredited....

...Evidence shows that virtually anyone can learn to read if they are taught to associate letters with particular sounds (phonics) and that trying to teach students to read using the whole language approach works poorly. Still, colleges of education continue to resist phonics. . . .

There are real costs to these inertial, anti-scientific ways. Researchers warn that trying to accommodate students’ beliefs about their own learning styles may actually make it harder for them to learn. The fact that fewer than 40 percent of American eighth graders are proficient readers is partially attributable to educators’ dogged opposition to phonics. . . .

Ed school graduates now occupy a growing role in academic administration, especially at lower-tier schools, and they are bringing an ed-school mentality with them.

In three words, ignorant, mediocre, authoritarianism.--Posted by Glenn Reynolds"