I Accuse! .............

Years ago I was fond of reading stories about conspiracies.  I wrote about one in my Book, Life Flow One, but was reluctant to call it a "conspiracy."  Instead, in Chapter 8, I called it a "master plan."  Now, I am ready to write about another -- call it a conspiracy if you wish, or a part of the master plan if you prefer!

I look you straight in the eye -- and swear that what you are about to read is my honest and my best effort to describe the exact truth of every part of the what I consider the biggest social problem in the world.

Here is the story:

• More and more school children are leaving school with lower and lower reading skills.  The latest report out, in April 2001, showed that national reading scores are going even further down for the lowest third of our students in the fourth grade -- while the scores are going up, but only slightly, for the highest third of our students.  The decline in reading skills has been continuous for decades -- with billions of dollars thrown at this problem, and the exact solution covertly refused.
• As illiterate children grow up to be illiterate adults, we have a society where a very large percentage of the people are functional illiterates.  They cannot read simple English.
• As less and less people can read, the watching of television has increased greatly. The students in the lowest third of reading skills watch an average of more than six hours of television per day!
• TV is taking over as the educational technology governing our culture and intelligence levels.
• You know what dominates TV -- sex, violence and, you may not realize it, drugs.
• More and more of the advertising on TV relates to drugs and foods that are not healthy for you.
• TV is made to order for the giant drug companies which are now free to promote their medical drugs in ways never allowed just 30 years ago.
• In fact, drug companies are decreasing expenditures on research and increasing expenditures on advertising -- and the public is getting more and more angry at drug companies.
• Prozac, under a new and different name, is being touted for premenstrual symptoms == the drug companies are increasing sales, profits and use of TV.  They are NOT improving health!
• If YOU were without ethics or morals, and wanted to increase your drug company's profits -- would you support reading programs that worked?

Many thousands of probably reasonably honest politicians have worked many hours to design government programs to improve reading skills.

Millions of teachers reel under the very widespread criticism of schools, and the teaching of reading, in particular.  Not all of them can be evil, trying to deliberately "dumb down" their students.  Click here to read about one honest educator.

I don't believe in accidents or luck!

Who has a financial interest in illiteracy?

The government is afraid of an informed citizenry and can't be trusted to improve reading skills.

The drug companies want to sell drugs using the emotional and persuasive messages of visual images, and sound persuasion -- a far cry from the day when a drug could only be promoted to a doctor.

So, don't expect literacy to improve without something new -- there are too many forces very actively opposing literacy in America.

I don't suggest you join the war against the drug companies, or even against the government.  I do suggest that YOU and your friends, and all the children you know, are within some reach by YOU of a solution for this problem.

It isn't easy, but we have no choice but to do something.

Vitamins?

Health Advice?

Do you realize what a tiny minority of people in our country would read any part of my 13,000 pages -- sure, there are more and more, every month, who read my web pages.  Our sales are increasing every month.  But, the larger group is growing -- the group that cannot read.

One day, not too long from now, they will be demanding the worst possible "help" from the government, from their doctors, and from the drug companies. They will get it!  It will kill them.

They are too ignorant -- they cannot read -- they cannot know the truth.

It is virtually too late for millions of Americans who will pass into disease and death because they have followed the TV advice on drugs -- because they cannot read the truth where it is published.

YOU have a responsibility to help prevent the carnage that is ruining our nation!

Reading Scores

Children who don't learn to read become adults who can't read!

The decline in reading scores is so often reported that it is no longer news -- but reading is the key to civilization and prosperity.  We cannot afford to ignore it.  I do NOT suggest you take on the national problem, but look into the reading skills of YOUR children, or YOUR grandchildren.

I remember my father.  He was 70 years old at the time.  I was visiting and he told me that he was going to tell me something he had never said to anyone.  He could hardly read.  He was exceptionally good with his memory.  He could read a few words, here and there, and guess at the rest.  He had been a very successful businessman and got by without being able to read.  It happens in our society.  But, he had people around him who could read and he got very little of his information from TV simply because it wasn't around when he was growing up.

Today's children have the problem that when they can't read, they can watch! 

Television has become the teacher -- reading is no longer necessary.

Consider that a good book would be a far better gift than a video game for your of your grandkids.  If they are too far gone, and won't even look at a book, then recognize that you have your work cut out for you.  If you don't do it, who will?

From the Los Angeles Times:

    The National Assessment of Educational Progress report (issued in April 2001) showed that fourth-grade reading skills overall have not budged since 1992, despite massive school reform efforts in California and elsewhere.
     Educators and government officials expressed chagrin over the disappointing results, known as the "nation's report card."
     "After spending $125 billion . . . over 25 years, we have virtually nothing to show for it," said U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, referring to the federal government's leading school program for poor children known as Title I. "Fewer than a third of fourth-graders can read at grade level."
     Other educators said the gap between high and low achievers suggests that the nation is failing children who need the most help.
     "It is a frightening sort of educational Darwinism," said Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, a Washington nonprofit organization that monitors achievement trends.
     Leading educators said the results were particularly distressing given that researchers in recent years have reached a consensus on how students learn to read and how best to teach the skill.
     Numerous government-sponsored studies over the last decade have found that explicit instruction in sound-letter relationships and phonics practice, combined with exposure to rich literature, produce the best results.
     That approach, however, has yet to find its way into many classrooms as teachers and those who train them continue to embrace unproven methods and programs.
     "There's a cultural barrier that we need to overcome. It's an enormous problem all over the country," said Christopher T. Cross, president of the Council for Basic Education, a nonprofit organization in Washington that advocates education reforms.
     "We're very bad in education about getting research into the hands of practitioners."  [Source]
 

And, from the New York Times, April 7, 2001:

Two-thirds of students tested fell below the level the federal government considers proficient, and 37 percent fell below even basic knowledge of reading, meaning they could read little beyond simple words and sentences and could not draw conclusions from what they read.  [Source]

Do you suppose that there is some force, undoubtedly hidden, that prevents the proven techniques for teaching reading from teaching reading?

The Influence Of TV on Reading!

It is obvious that a person who cannot read must rely on audio and visual sources for his information -- visual in the form of pictures, drawings, cartoons, and most of all -- Television.

And, it just as obvious that watching TV causes children to have less need to learn to read.  After all, it is easier to watch TV, and get your education there, than read a book.

These two influences feed on one another.

Those who are poorly taught in reading will watch more and more TV.

The student who has TV and watches it, will do more poorly in reading despite the proper teaching of reading.

The statistics tell the sad story.

Drug Companies Greatly Increase TV Promotion

How much time do YOU spend watching TV?

Well, you know what you see -- more and more -- ads and educational specials on drugs and health advice that, bottom line, pushes some drug.

 

The drug companies are advertising new drugs with a vengeance. The pharmaceutical industry is expected to spend $2 billion this year on advertising, according to the American Medical News, most of it on television. That's up from $300 million in 1997. Thirty years after we banned cigarette advertising on television, we are being bombarded with an equally insidious message: namely, that for every problem, there is an easy painless solution.

Most of these commercials appear simple and straightforward, complete with FDA-approved disclaimers. Some masquerade as educational public service announcements. But they're part of a sophisticated marketing strategy based on the idea that with enough frequency, specific drugs can win what marketers call "share of mind." Which is the goal of every brand of soda and tennis shoe. Each company wants to be the one you reach for first.

Last year, thanks to millions of dollars of TV advertising, Viagra grabbed share of mind for a problem called "trouble in bed." It bumped out other competing solutions: talk therapy, a second honeymoon, more exercise. For some, it was truly a miracle drug; for many others, it was a crutch.

Drug companies are reframing many of the shortcomings in the human condition as problems and providing the solution. Are you shy? That's not part of your personality. No, we've discovered that shyness is really a problem called Social Anxiety Disorder, and it can be treated with the drug Paxil, which is also marketed as an antidepressant. Old solutions such as taking a public speaking class or avoiding stupid parties you don't want to go to anyway will quickly lose share of mind to Paxil. In this loud, brash culture of ours, shyness just can't be tolerated, which is too bad because shyness and social anxiety help keep us civilized by promoting modesty and politeness.  [Source]

 

Health Advice Given By "Food" Companies

I recall, well, how upset I was almost 20 years ago when I saw TV ads for margarine, promoting it as so much better for you than butter.

I knew this was a lie -- but it was a massive lie.  And a generation of Americans, many of them functionally illiterate, became convinced that butter was bad and margarine was good.  This was a deliberate campaign to sell margarine.  Behind that campaign, motivated apparently by nothing more than greed and the willingness to lie for purpose to make money -- behind THAT motivation was the deeper, more sinister interest the drug companies had in selling cholesterol-lowering drugs.

These drug companies knew that margarine, and the heavy concentration of free radicals in that stuff, would cause more heart disease -- exactly, of course, the opposite of the claim being made about margarine.

When heart disease increased, the drug companies could sell more drugs.

It is a simple matter -- almost impossible to believe.

But, ask around -- ask any ten people you know, "Do you think margarine or butter is better for the health of your heart?"

You will find that most people still believe margarine is better then butter.

But, here is a more worrisome task for you.

Find, if you can, a batch of people whose reading skills are poor, and ask THEM this question.  Then, if you can find them, find a batch of people whose reading skills are quite high -- and ask THEM this question.

The better educated person, the one who reads better -- he will know more of the truth about butter and margarine.

Why would the drug companies want the poor suckers, the ones for whom the government health programs pay for the drugs -- why would the drug companies want THEM to read better?

This has been a short and bitter Newsletter -- take it to heart -- rescue your grandchild if it is not too late!