Glad to see someone else spotted those elusive academics hiding behind their walls of public dollars. Whatever they touch wilts on the vine and they refuse to be held accountable.
Well done Alannah Mactiernan

Caution you lot. Suseonline & Poirot will come down on you like a tonne of bricks talking about our pseudo intellectuals like this.

I wonder what system of learning to read most of the promoters of the whole language system were taught. If they are 30 years of age or younger we have a case of the blind leading the blind. If they are over 30 years of age, this is just plain scary.

Do the French, Spanish, Germans and Italians have this same literacy problem or is it uniquely American, Australian and New Zealand's approach to learning?

uniquely American, Australian and New Zealand's approach to learning?

sbr108,
I have been asking myself the same question for many years & I am convinced that the above is the case. It is irrefutably the difference in mentality that put the countries you mention several rungs down on the educational ladder. Of course you get exceptionally intelligent in every society but there is definitely a social mentality at work. It is without doubt that the european countries have the edge because of an entrenched culture of discipline & responsibility although this is being undermined as more & more migrants settle there. one just has to look at pre Whitlam Australia & the Australia we have now. Simply no comparison.

BUMP*..diss-cuss-ion_point/thesis

ALL_mind-educated..CREATIONS..are.significant..in a..PERSONAL/historical/progressive..sense
[extracted..from.]
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=6040&page=0

They are..the very..first..sysytemised/reference...to
the idea..of OUR-reality..versus..illusion..[of-mind].,..
*the notion..that..THE-reality..can be..affected..BY IMAGINED-FEARS.

IF..only..the..SPIRIT/eternity..is real..and
space..mortal/MATTER/time/place..is potent-illusion.

(The lines.."Nothing real..can be..threatened.
Nothing..unreal..exists"..were..actually..dictated later...for clarity)

How..different would..our day..be..if
we could..establish..and maintain..that..consistent-awareness!..

Imagine..being able..to pass..through_situations..
*fully-aware..that what..you see..is not..really..able..to hurt/you....
that the..illusory/fear-forms..in/front..of mind..perception's.. of you..are just..emotive-baggage[shadows],..

that..you are..literally..walking/through..a dream..
of..your own..miss-perceived..[OTHERS-conceptions].?

You..might think..you..would/stop..caring altogether..about this shadow-play...and..the way..that..*you walked..upon..*its stage.

Yet..that is-not..what this..sentence says...
It seems..to/be..saying,.."While..you are..*in the dream,..why not.*take ACTIVE-part.*in it..constructively?"

What..an interesting/question!

Try..asking yourself..that question..and see.how your mind reacts. Ask..yourself,.."Since/only..eternity..is real,..why_not?..use..the illusion_of..time/constructively?"

The..sense I get..is..The/power..is_not..*in..*its hands;..
the power..is in..my hands...Therefore,..I am free..to use..time however*..I want.

Second,..if..I can/use..time how..I want,
then..why wouldn't..*I use it..constructively..to-do..better?..After all,..I'm here..for now;.I'm in..this/living..live time-moment..in-time.

Why/not..do something_positive..with it?

This contrast..between..the healing-unity/reality
and..the..hurtful/injurious/material..full..of illusion,..
so..of-course,..fearless emoted/motivated/love..[works]..would..become..the..philosophical/backbone..of..the-Course.

Before..this point,..the closest/references..we had
were..two mentions.of.."lower-order/reality,"..which..referred to.the physical level...

Yet..obviously,..even a..lower-order/reality..still
has_been..made real..[accorded/reality]...by..our delusional..fears alone.

whole/purpose..of coming..this far
is..to decide..WHICH BRANCH..YOU WILL*..TO.TAKE..FROM/HERE-ON.

The way..you came..no_longer-matters.
IT..CAN NO..LONGER SERVE.

No-one..who reaches this far..CAN make.the wrong decision.
But..he CAN..INITIATE/delay..And/there..is no par/of..the journey that..seems..more hopeless..and futile..than standing/where
the..road/branches,..*and not..deciding..which_way..to go.

It-is..only the..first/few steps..along/the
NARROW-right/way..that seem hard,..because..you HAVE
chosen,..but you still..think you/can go..back..and make..the other choice.

This..is not/so.. A choice made..with
the..power-of/Heaven..to uphold it..cannot BE..undone.
Your way..IS decided...There will-be..nothing you-will/NOT..be told, if..you acknowledge/this.

For..good..reason,..then,..these references
were/changed..by the editors..to..the "material-bodily/level."

Jesus..starts off..using..a typical,..throwaway comment
that.we make..to each-other..all..the time...

We offhandedly..tell people..to.."have..a good_day,"..
with only.the vaguest-idea..of what/w.. mean..to communicate..unto other..by that...word-choice.

We probably mean ..something like,.."Have..a day..you find enjoyable," or,.."Have..a day..with agreeable..rather than difficult/circumstances."

And we..probably have..no particular..thought
about how..they*..can have..[or..will/chose]..
to live-out..that..good GOD-day...

It's not,,just/a..pleasant-thing..to say...and
good=god..thus..good brings..good..of god..into..live-time/present recall..

plus..the many..other..good-days..comforts
gifted..of..the comforter..within..us-all.

but...You..aren't supposed..to think/about..it..too much...
[the/past-life..whether..for/good or ill..is part..of the past..thus..illusion..

when..we are..trying to.minimize,..illusion/...to..maximize..this present..living..moment..in/time..into..a loving-eternal/aware moment..

Jesus,..however,..has thought..through..
exactly what..he means..by."Have..a god day."..

He..ends-up filling-out..our rather vacant/conventional..saying
with..his own..rather profound..spiritual teaching.

As..a result,..the kind-of day..jesus is..calling.."good"..is *significantly-different..than..our usual..bland-conceptions...recalls.and false memories...

Further.. he has in..aware-mind..a specific way..
to have..that good day...[by loving/other as..the..*way
to..love*our..father]

[love creator..by constantly/CONSISTENTLY...trying..to love-other creations]

This..is so characteristic..of the Course,..to take..some familiar cultural/container,..like.."have a good day,"..and..fill it*.with totally..unfamiliar content,*..which..has both..spiritual-depth

and..specific..injunctions..
for how/to..experience..that depth.
http://miraclevision.com/acim/urtext/acim-urtext-2003-upe-ready-edition.pdf

Yes sure, there are things like bough, borough, brow and bow. And English has French roots, Latin roots, German roots, Gaelic roots and even some Sanskrit roots, but they are usually attended by phonetic pronunciation examples in good dictionaries! And indeed, the principle reason why we must return to phonetics!
That is what dictionaries are for as a prime learning tool, and to reiterate, why we need to return to the phonetic method!
Rather than waste any more valuable time on an unnecessarily complex method, that has demonstrably and unequivocally failed on any comparative measure!
There ought to be a sign on every primary teacher's desk, which ought to read, keep it simple stupid!
Or, lets leave the high school side of their education to high school!
Or, you're here to provide a strong, reliable, dependable foundation, not engage in academic studies of different, untried, untested, unproven, teaching methodologies, where the students become your very unfortunate, and as usual, non-consenting lab rats!
Rhrosty.