| The failures of formal education Frank Smith abandoned newspapering for a Harvard PhD and a career as an internationally acclaimed writer and lecturer on reading, writing and children's literacy. His latest book is called Insult to Intelligence. ON SCHOOLS Schools aren't good places for learning any more than hospitals are good places for being sick in. It's very, very difficult to learn in school, induding university. People learn much more outside of school.... REGIMENTATION Most kids know a good deal about reading before they come to school. Every kid can read the word McDonald's. Most kids know what the television guide is for. Most kids can read store signs, they can read product labels, things like that. They know about writing birthday cards or leaving notes on refrigerator doors. They've got a good idea what reading is for and what writing is for. I think most kids are almost there by the time they come to school. What school says to kids is forget all of that, that's outside of school. Inside of school, reading is a whole set of exercises, a whole set of drills. Kids are very lucky if they see anything that makes sense to them in reading instruction in schools. Most of the time they're filling in blanks and answering stupid questions when they've read stupid stories.... ON TEACHING You know the best people for reading to five-year-old kids in school? It's seven-year-olds, not the teachers. And not the good readers but the mediocre ones, because the good readers will come on too strong and act like teachers and pick up all the mistakes. You don't need someone who is a brilliant reader, you just need someone who is a little better than you....
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