Rob K Henderson for President! Make America Sensible Again. =) Thank you for using your influence to make a difference for future generations. It's an honor that I get to support your work through this Substack subscription.
Divorce laws and family courts need to be fixed. All my divorced male friends, some very good men, lost half their money in divorce. Young men know this after hearing decades of anecdotal stories and have become wary.
Hi Rob - can you add "science of reading" instructions in all schools receiving funding from the feds?
I know this isn't your expertise area but the discipline within a school you are talking about goes back to science of reading - in which kids from aged 0 - 8 should have to set them up for higher learning. It's not about getting kids to be STEM experts, but they gain foundation reading automaticity before they age out of support systems and into jail. If you look like dyslexia / reading difficulties and young men - you will see the stats.
Often the battle is shifted between parents to school systems, or schools to government mandates, then back to parents and governemnts. There is a triangulation dynamic here is finger pointing that is not serving the children. If all three parties are aligned in Science of Reading instructions to provide to kids - then all kids.. all these kids can be identified where they get stuck with learning, and with targeted support, will be able to read with their families. Teachers can be general but literacy and teaching are different even at a young age.
I recommend you do a quick search on it so you can see the decades of research backing up science of reading for kids is a big differentiator between kids who can't read that parents end up getting private support; or families in poverty stay in poverty. It can perpetuate generational poverty with literacy skills being properly taught and measured.
A country wide adoption of science of reading can reduce poverty gaps based on the way reading is taught. Please be explicit about this. If you google "reading wars" you will see the teachers fighting between themselves about balanced approach vs science of reading (importance of orthographic mapping for proficient readers)
https://www.thereadingleague.org/ - is one source about this. AI can give you the whole tl/dr version of teaching wars. And your explicit opinion on this can move the needle on families in poverty.
It seems to me that the current legal environment makes discipline ineffective. The consequences for misbehavior are not and cannot be made unpleasant.
I was a teacher in Japan and kids there were really well behaved. Their education system isn't as great as everyone thinks, really it's built on shame and social manipulation and kids have to pretend to be stupid so they don't get bullied. But kids weren't afraid for their lives going to schools because the teachers were in charge and nobody apologised for that. Somehow this theory of "let the kids figure out how to learn for themselves" thing took off and since then every year teaching standards are getting worse. I'm back living in the UK now and would never dream of being a teacher here, it's hell and teachers are all leaving because they get no support or guidance on discipline. Kids are like velociraptors, they are always testing the fences and you need good fences or they will run wild and kill all the guests at Jurassic Park ;)
That you were consulted is encouraging to read about. Keep up the good work you are doing.
Rob K Henderson for President! Make America Sensible Again. =) Thank you for using your influence to make a difference for future generations. It's an honor that I get to support your work through this Substack subscription.
We need some Rob Henderson MASA merch
Seriously :)
Divorce laws and family courts need to be fixed. All my divorced male friends, some very good men, lost half their money in divorce. Young men know this after hearing decades of anecdotal stories and have become wary.
Very commonsensical. These points have been noted over the years by many informed observers, ie. Thomas Sowell.
Hi Rob - can you add "science of reading" instructions in all schools receiving funding from the feds?
I know this isn't your expertise area but the discipline within a school you are talking about goes back to science of reading - in which kids from aged 0 - 8 should have to set them up for higher learning. It's not about getting kids to be STEM experts, but they gain foundation reading automaticity before they age out of support systems and into jail. If you look like dyslexia / reading difficulties and young men - you will see the stats.
Often the battle is shifted between parents to school systems, or schools to government mandates, then back to parents and governemnts. There is a triangulation dynamic here is finger pointing that is not serving the children. If all three parties are aligned in Science of Reading instructions to provide to kids - then all kids.. all these kids can be identified where they get stuck with learning, and with targeted support, will be able to read with their families. Teachers can be general but literacy and teaching are different even at a young age.
I recommend you do a quick search on it so you can see the decades of research backing up science of reading for kids is a big differentiator between kids who can't read that parents end up getting private support; or families in poverty stay in poverty. It can perpetuate generational poverty with literacy skills being properly taught and measured.
A country wide adoption of science of reading can reduce poverty gaps based on the way reading is taught. Please be explicit about this. If you google "reading wars" you will see the teachers fighting between themselves about balanced approach vs science of reading (importance of orthographic mapping for proficient readers)
https://www.thereadingleague.org/ - is one source about this. AI can give you the whole tl/dr version of teaching wars. And your explicit opinion on this can move the needle on families in poverty.
Excellent. It's instability not poverty that hurts these kids. Families matter.
I hope you get to do this for every administration. Common sense plus data should be an easy argument.
With regards to rfk - half of what he advocates is long overdue and half is badly misinformed - but I’ll take wins wherever we get them.
Sounds good -- hope the kids don't get measles before doing the success sequence!
Thank you, Rob!!
Bravo Henderson — that is really the coolest thing I’ve heard all year
So glad you were consulted. You are definitely an expert the elites should listen to.
IMO, schools should teach about debt and interest rates. Seems the government wants everyone in debt.
It seems to me that the current legal environment makes discipline ineffective. The consequences for misbehavior are not and cannot be made unpleasant.
I was a teacher in Japan and kids there were really well behaved. Their education system isn't as great as everyone thinks, really it's built on shame and social manipulation and kids have to pretend to be stupid so they don't get bullied. But kids weren't afraid for their lives going to schools because the teachers were in charge and nobody apologised for that. Somehow this theory of "let the kids figure out how to learn for themselves" thing took off and since then every year teaching standards are getting worse. I'm back living in the UK now and would never dream of being a teacher here, it's hell and teachers are all leaving because they get no support or guidance on discipline. Kids are like velociraptors, they are always testing the fences and you need good fences or they will run wild and kill all the guests at Jurassic Park ;)
Thank you for these common sense recommendations.
RFK Jr.: “I’m assembling a team…”
Having worked closely for 30 years with low income populations in community mental health centers, I wholeheartedly agree with every point you make!