Kuhnian paradigm shift on display here. These days, we almost never see a nuanced give and take where the parties admit their doubts and confidence levels in real time as their understanding shifts. I suspect tribalism is the cause but I have no idea regarding a solution for the problem that we can't civilly discuss ideas with people with whom we disagree.
Carl Sagan:
I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995)
After reading Matt's tweet, I asked Grok to draw this for me:
I've been listening to outstanding podcast titled "Sold a Story,” an eight-part investigative series hosted by journalist Emily Hanford. Launched in October 2022, “Sold a Story.” This podcast examines the widespread use of an ineffective (and often counter-productive) reading instruction method used in many U.S. schools. This method, heavily promoted by Lucy Calkins, author of the “Units of Study”, was one of the most widely used reading curricula in U.S. elementary schools after its introduction in 1987. This method, which intentionally discourages the use of phonics, has been so firmly embedded in grade school curricula that it continues to be used in many schools despite decades of cognitive science showing that kids learn far better when they are taught significant amounts of phonics. “Sold a Story” exposes how millions of children struggle to read (even now as adults) because schools relied on Calkins' thoroughly debunked theories, often referred to as "balanced literacy" and "whole language."
The focus of the “Sold a Story” is this: Why do so many American schools continue to use reading curricula rooted in such a flawed idea that children can learn to read primarily by guessing words using context clues or pictures, rather than systematically decoding words through phonics? Calkins' approach, influenced by figures like Marie Clay and perpetuated by popular authors and publishers somehow ignored the "science of reading," research showing that explicit phonics instruction is a critical component for most children to become proficient readers. The series also highlights the horrific consequences of excluding phonics—65% of current U.S. fourth graders are not proficient readers.
[Note and Spoiler Alert: Lucy Calkins began incorporating phonics into the Units of Study for Teaching Reading curriculum with the release of her newest method, called the Units of Study in Phonics in 2021. This was in response to growing criticism, including the criticism levied by the "Sold a Story" podcast. Calkins' updated method includes phonics primarily in K-2 classrooms to supplement the core reading curriculum, aiming to address foundational skills like decoding. In her current method, phonics is still deemphasized for grades 3 and beyond.]
Lucy Calkins agreed to be interviewed by Emily Hansford in 2021 after previously rebuffing Hansford. For me, this interview was gripping--I've transcribed it below. What would Calkins say after causing such widespread damage to millions of children? Well, this interview revealed Calkins' lack of integrity and an unwillingness to fall squarely on her sword. She just couldn't bear to admit that she refused to look at the science of reading while creating and promulgating her flawed method. This willful ignorance occurred while Calkins was the nation's de facto rock star of reading education. For years, the science of reading demonstrated that her method was harming children by teaching them to pretend to read. Many kids are wired such that they learned to read despite the fundamental flaws of Calkins' original method but, as indicated above, many other students were left behind, some of them for life. The following is from Episode 6:
Jordan Peterson discusses the challenge of identifying the psychopaths on the Left and on the Right. He claims that the main thing these two groups have in common is not their ideas, such as wokeness. It is their psychopathology. I created a transcript of this conversation below:
Jordan Peterson 0:02
I think that virtualization has enabled the psychopaths. Without a doubt, yeah, well, without a doubt, that's a terrible thing, because the psychopathic types, they're always the death of everything, like I'm seeing this come up on the right now. So imagine, imagine this. I've been working on a new, a new theory of political psychopathology, and I like it quite a lot. Is this
Joe Rogan 0:24
where the term the woke, right comes in?
Jordan Peterson 0:26
Yeah, well, Lindsay is pointing at that, but he hasn't got, he hasn't got the diagnosis exactly right? So it isn't woke. That's not the issue. It's not exactly,
Joe Rogan 0:36
I think one level talking about is like similar types of behavior
Jordan Peterson 0:40
he is talking about that, yeah, no,
Joe Rogan 0:42
woke just lets you clarify in your head. Oh, it's like that,
Jordan Peterson 0:46
yeah. But the problem is,
Joe Rogan 0:47
It's like, Antifa,
Jordan Peterson 0:48
Yeah, absolutely. But the problem is, is that that argument is predicated on the claim that the ideas are the problem, like the woke ideas, for example, on the right or the left. But that's not the problem. The problem is that four to 5% of the population, something like that is Cluster B, that's the DSM five terms, histrionic, narcissistic, anti social, psychopathic, and they have dark tetrad traits. They're Machiavellian, they're sadistic. That's about 4% okay, so the question is, how do these people maneuver? And the answer is, they go to where the power is and they adopt those ideas, and they put themselves even on the forefront of that.But the ideas are completely irrelevant, right? All they're doing is, they're the Pharisees. They're the modern version of the Pharisees. They're the people who use God's name in vain, right, as they proclaim moral virtue. Doesn't matter whether it's right or left or Christian or Jewish or Islam. They invade the idea space, and then they use those ideas as false weapons to advance their narcissistic advantage. And so then you have the problem, and the right is going to face this more and more particularly because the left had to face it when they were in powers.
Yes.
How do you identify the psychopathic parasites? 4% of the population who are clothed in your clothing and waving your flags, but who are only in it for narcissistic benefit.