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Monday, November 21, 2011

Schools Matter: "[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance"

Schools Matter: "[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance":

"[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance"

"[N]ot the Time. . .to Follow the Line of Least Resistance"

In a major journal from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), a teacher and scholar laments the current state of implementing the research in language: "A brief consideration will indicate reasons for the considerable gap between the research currently available and the utilization of that research in school programs and methods" (p. 87).

And the discussion of that gap between research and pedagogy leads to this conclusion:
"Most thinking persons agree that the existence of civilized man is threatened today. While language is not food or drink, and will not satisfy the hungry and thirsty, it is the medium by which we must do much of our learning and panning, and by which we must think out solutions to our problems if we are not to solve them by the direct method of force. No sensible person believes that language will cure all difficulties; but the thoughtful person will certainly agree that language is a highly important factor in promoting understanding, and a most dangerous factor in promoting