Some might think I'm flippant when I compare reigning educational theory with a common street con.

 No, I'm entirely serious. The common denominator is verbal and intellectual sleight-of-hand.

 Anyone who teaches reading or wants to understand our reading crisis should take a few minutes to explore this article and the accompanying video.

 In the 3-minute video, a magician explains how the con artist convinces you that what you think you saw is never the reality. This is intellectually very fascinating.

 Similarly, schools tell parents that some words follow NO rules and children have NO choice but to memorize these words as graphic configurations.  (There are two lies in that sentence.) At that point the hustle is complete.

In both hustles, the sucker never gets an even break.

The biggest problem in education is illiteracy. Sight-Words are the cause of this illiteracy. This is the one area where we can quickly make improvement with very little expense. We simply stop using a bogus method!

http://religion.rantrave.com/Rant/K-12-Three-Card-Monte.aspx

 This article has some good links.