Opinion: To Teach a Kid How to Read, Teach a Kid How to Think

The Millions

Instruction today is both more progressive and child-centered — where literacy instructors are discouraged from assigning one-size-fits-all whole class novels and students are expected to be given maximum freedom to choose books that they're interested in — and more rote — where students are drilled in the practice of a dozen or so "reading skills" that attempt to teach comprehension as a stepwise process similar to multiplying fractions or performing long division.

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