Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
[b]Remember "Dick and Jane"?
We've forgotten how to see life with the joy of a child.
If the energy and intensity of a child at play could be harnessed we could taxi to the moon.
Few adults work as hard as children play.
Some children, today, read assisted by classroom computers.
http://www.squidoo.com/dick-and-jane-books
How do you see things? Ever slow down long enough to join in with your children at play?
.[/b]
"In the later 1950s and early 1960s, Dick and Jane found themselves in troubled waters. In 1955, Rudolf Flesch struck out against look-say readers in his bestseller, Why Johnny Can't Read. Flesch argued that the whole word method did not properly teach children how to read or to appreciate literature, because of its limited vocabulary and overly simplistic stories. Other phonics advocates in the 1960s echoed Flesch's arguments, calling for new primers that focused on phonics and introduced students to real literature.
"An act of Congress helped phonics advocates end Dick and Jane's tenure in American school systems. In the mid-1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson called for better primary education especially for underprivileged students. The resulting Elementary and Secondary Education Act included money to help poor school districts buy supplemental materials for their students but with the restriction that these materials had to have subject matter appropriate for urban schoolchildren. Scott, Foresman's solution was to introduce a minority family into Dick and Jane's formerly all-white world: Mike, his sisters the twins Pam and Penny, and their parents.
"Meanwhile, phonics proponents continued to lobby for a return to McGuffey's method. Scott, Foresman retired Dick and Jane in 1965.
..."By the late 1960s, Dick and Jane were gone - but they were by no means forgotten: critics continued to attack them. When phonics proponents squared off against whole word advocates, they used excerpts and pictures from Dick and Jane readers as bad examples. Multiculturalists pointed out the lack of minorities and the racial insensitivities of the Scott, Foresman series. Feminists spoke out against sex stereotypes in the Basic Readers. Retrospectively, Dick and Jane began to symbolize for many the inadequacies of the entire Cold War era.
"Nevertheless, Dick and Jane are still with us, and they remain (with their sister Sally, their dog Spot, and their cat Puff) virtually the only characters in the history of American primary education whose names have become household words. Many Americans remember the duo fondly, and they collect copies of the books in which they appeared.""
http://www.rarebookschool.org/2005/exhibitions/dickandjane.shtml
Remember "Dick and Jane"?
05 Feb '13 09:30
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