A Bill of Rights for Students 2020

Given the many counterproductive ideas that sweep through education, given all the endless, murky debates conducted in our media, it is helpful for the American people to focus on what, at a minimum, young people are entitled to in our schools:


1) THE RIGHT TO LEARN TO READ. All progress in education depends on literacy. It is imperative that children learn the alphabet and the sounds early, and that they are reading in the first grade. Children have a right to be reading age-appropriate books by the second or third grade.

2) THE RIGHT TO MASTER BASIC ARITHMETIC. Again, as fads have undermined effective teaching for many decades, millions of children never learn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. These are such basic skills--easy enough to teach, easy to test. If administrators can’t ensure that all children can do these essential things, find other administrators.

3) THE RIGHT TO WRITE, IN BOTH SENSES. One essential goal in the first years of schooling is to be able to write a small essay or a letter to grandmother, signed with a real signature. Cursive handwriting, according to many experts, is an indispensable assist in learning to read, write, and spell.

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