David & I (Esther) were public school teachers debating over joining the Teacher's union. We read his book: NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education and that settled the conflict. Then we got to hear Samuel L Blumenfeld speak. He was dynamic.
Samuel L. Blumenfeld passed from this life today, June 1, 2015. He wrote the book all of my siblings and I learned to read from. My dad also wore out many copies of Alpha-Phonics teaching his fifth and sixth graders who were behind or "dyslexic." I remember going with him to tutor a young man on "the other side of the tracks." The student's mother showed us a bullet hole through their curtain. She had just had the front window replaced. The mother was thrilled with her son's progress in reading, praising my dad. Dad always gave phonics the credit.
Both were public school teachers, they wanted to study education for their own children. A few months later they heard an ad on Christian radio that Blumenfeld was speaking nearby. He was an exuberant speaker who had recently come to faith in Christ through his study of American education and realized the role of Christianity promoting literacy. Blumenfeld had a passion for literacy having tried to teach his mother to read. A Jewish immigrant and intelligent woman, she was never able to "get it" and went to her grave never learning to read English. After her death, Blumenfeld realized that while he tried to teach her the "look say" memorizing whole word method of reading, English should be taught phonetically; memorizing the sounds of letters and letter groups. His other books showed how education had been deliberately dumbed down to create a class of Americans who follow and don't have the confidence or understanding to lead.
Mr. Blumenfeld wrote and published nearly to the end of his life, publishing his last book last year. ~Regina
Available from Amazon.com
Samuel Blumenfeld has blessed us greatly through his teaching and books, especially NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education, Is Public Education Necessary?, Alpha Phonics, How to Tutor and many others. David & I (Esther) first heard him speak when out firstborn, Regina, was crawling. We love this man and pray many will read his books. These are full of history giving wisdom to us all.
NEA: Trojan Horse
Alpha-Phonics:
Is Public Education Necessary?
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