Restore the Independent Mind

As a 59-year old gramma with some time on her hands and with a heart for little ones, I decided to volunteer to read with children at one of Lockhart’s elementary schools last year. When the librarian at Plum Creek asked me what days I would be available, I asked, “When do you need me?” Her reply shocked me, “Can you be here at 8am until 3pm every day?”

She assigned me four children, and I soon found out what she meant. They struggled with reading the simplest passages.

This year, I decided not to volunteer with Plum Creek, though it broke my heart not to work with Hanah, Jacob, Brandon, and Alex. I decided to DO something for ALL the children.

I took a gamble, literally. I bought $5 worth of tickets from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for their scholarship drive. I won their $100 prize. With that money, I purchased a set of materials from The Riggs Institute, “The Writing and Spelling Road to Thinking and Reading.” I now volunteer my time to teach people how to teach others to read.

I reach out to homeschool parents, disgruntled public school teachers, desperate parents whose children are functionally illiterate, community leaders, and anyone who will listen. It is not that hard to teach someone to read, and the fact that American children are unable to read their diplomas is not only unsettling, it is criminal. As Dr. Hilde Mosse (M.D.) said in her book, The Complete Handbook of Children’s Reading Disorders, “When so many children are affected by the same disorder, the explanation cannot possibly be individual psychopathology.”

I’ve done the research. I know what happened. I’ve read Blumenfeld, Gatto, Flesch, and Iserbyt. The Progressives, who were Marxists at the core, took over the teacher colleges and turned the classroom into a psych lab. They developed curriculum that would change the American independent, intelligent mind into the statist, dumbed-down, collective mind. Reading at an early age seemed to Dewey “a perversion.” They supplanted the traditional Notebook with endless, boring, and consumable Workbooks. They substituted the teaching of phonograms with a sight word method that was great for deaf children, but not for non-disabled children. They stretched out the time it took to teach the phonemes, teaching a short sound this month, then a long sound next month, which served to delay children’s early reading (just as planned). They brought in distracting games, pictures, and key words rather than teaching “explicit” phonics in isolation. Much of this was explained and exposed in the 1985 federal compilation of reading research, “Becoming a Nation of Readers.”

There is no better method of reading instruction than that taught by The Riggs Institute. It is multi-sensory, direct / explicit, Socratic inquiry, and employs the Notebook. In fact, it is the method chosen by two charter schools in Texas, Founders Classical Academy in Lewisville and Leander. These schools boast of using “The Oldest Ideas for the Youngest Minds.” Isn’t it time to go back to what works? The “new” ideas sure don’t seem to be doing so well!

Gov. Abbott, I encourage you and your staff to explore this methodology for all of Texas’ children. Consider, too, the cost benefit to the parent-taxpayers with non-consumable materials, and the ability to invest in real literature instead of graded readers. Perhaps visit Leander and see for yourself the difference that real instruction makes. I would be honored to deliver some overview materials to your office for your perusal. And just so you know, I have no financial interest in this endeavor. I do have a dear investment, however — my grandchildren attend Lockhart public schools. I am at your service to help with anything you might need.

Thank you for your time. My husband Mike and I send our fervent prayers for your success with your education goals and for your term as Governor of the Lone Star State.