One of my favorite intellectual activities is trying to explain sight-words so that the ordinary doctor, lawyer, or politician  understands what I'm saying.

This has turned out to be extremely difficult. Rudolf Flesch thought, in 1955, that he had said the final word on why phonics is essential, and why Whole Word will inevitably destroy children by the millions. Unfortunately, he didn't  make his case well enough. So we do have more than 40 million functional…

This little article  explores the big paradox of the 20th century. Social reformers (particularly, socialists, communists, totalitarians of all types) always make very big claims about what they will do for the People. Finally, we are told, the People will have fairness, equality, and justice.

 Almost inevitably, the People get more misery than they had before. That is really the underlying theme of George Orwell's 1984. The various power-seeking groups fight among themselves;…

That title is the central conflict that has been playing out over the last hundred years.

 Academically successful schools tend to do what has generally been termed "traditional education." 

Progressive schools, on the other hand, do what is generally termed social engineering. Such schools are not primarily concerned with knowledge. They are focused on creating new kinds of children and preparing them to live in a Brave New World.

 As this trend…