None of the current issues in education have much to do with education; they are politically, socially, or economically based, and opinions tend to be presented as facts. For example illiteracy statistics are inflated. Virtually all children have the opportunity to learn to read and write at school, and the majority of them do. Neither is the…

Describes the formation of the new "California Reading Initiative" that directly ties school funding to practices such as teaching phonemic awareness and systematic, explicit phonics. Assesses its research base, and discusses problems in teaching Limited-English-Proficient students to read following its directives. Presents research that supports…