I Thought We Were Past This — But the Science of Reading Backlash Is Here
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses the emerging pushback against the science of reading movement just as it was becoming mainstream.
Key Takeaways
- The backlash was predictable - Whenever a reform gains traction, defenders of the old approach push back
- The science hasn't changed - Phonics-based instruction still has the strongest evidence base for teaching reading
- Stay the course - Schools implementing science of reading shouldn't abandon it because of political pushback
Transcript
Okay, I love the science of reading but I don't love it when people get dogmatic and overconfident and mean and I think this is happening less and less now that science of reading is more mainstream and there are just lots of people who are learning about the science of reading but there has long been this strand that feels kind of cultish and kind of dogmatic within science of reading communities and you'll see it spill out into the mainstream when people share internal wars that are happening within the science of reading community, especially in Facebook groups.
And that's how I initially stumbled into this one.
And I'm just shocked at how mean people can be and how rude people can be and how dogmatic and just like...
I don't mind people having convictions.
I think having convictions is great.
I think knowing your stuff is great.
What's dogmatic to me though is when people don't really know what they're talking about and yet they insist that they're right and then they accuse other people of not knowing what they're talking about and they get rude and insulting and personal and like this is just a strange thing to have happening in our profession and we don't we don't need it right like we should be able to talk to one another in a respectful way and I had like a whole bunch of people just like be rude and then block me and like I blocked a couple people because they just wouldn't stop being kind of abusive.
Like, let's be able to talk about research.
Let's be able to talk about practice.
Let's be able to talk about phonemic awareness and morphology and like all these technical topics that should not get people as mad as they do.
I think part of why they're getting people mad is like just a desire for tribalism.
Like we don't have to have tribes.
We don't have to have like gurus that we individually follow and ascribe to.
And I think probably the worst behavior comes when somebody feels like they're being a really good follower of a guru and they go and attack other people with arguments that they don't themselves understand and research that they themselves don't understand.
and with neuroscience that they themselves don't understand.
And I wonder if you're seeing this too, this kind of strange use of neuroscience and brain research in ways that are like not really correct, like it's not very well informed neuroscience, but it gives people confidence because they're talking about the brain, they're talking about fMRIs, they're talking about research that was done by, you know, neuroscientists, and then they're applying that to education in ways that maybe are a little questionable and and yet with this huge dose of dogmatism and confidence and meanness so I guess my takeaway from all that is like let's let's chill out a little bit let's not be mean let's not be dogmatic let's look at research let's be open let's talk to one another respectfully but realize that like this is not going to get us to a place of truth through kind of tribal warfare between camps within the science of reading do you know what I'm talking about are you seeing this too in some of your interactions online let me know