Does This Support the Saying That the Human Mind Is Like the Human Egg?

                                                  The human mind is like a human egg because

                                                  it has a "shut-off device" that rejects new ideas 

                                                  once a primary belief or ideology gets in.  

Between 4–7 September 2026, I had a series of exchanges on LinkedIn with Dr. Karen Faulds, an educational consultant and assessor in the UK. I am preserving the discussion here for posterity because it illustrates a recurring problem: when entrenched practices are defended despite stagnant outcomes.

 

The Exchange

Systematic synthetic phonics has been the dominant approach in UK schools since 2006. Yet the percentage of children leaving school functionally illiterate has remained stubbornly flat.

 

When I asked why, Dr. Faulds suggested that “it’s not because teachers add a schwa” and pointed to “other reasons.”

 

I clarified that I never claimed the schwa was the only reason. In fact, I’ve documented multiple causes in my book Shut Down Kids. But the central question remains: if phonics has been universally adopted, why has the UK never broken into the top 10 in PISA?

 

Dr. Faulds then shifted ground to sampling issues, “love of reading,” and unfamiliarity with programmes like BabyTV’s Charlie and the Alphabet. My response was that whether she had heard of BabyTV or not is irrelevant — what matters is that such content exists, is broadcast widely, and entrenches distorted consonant sounds (“cuh,” “buh,” “duh”) that make blending harder and disengage vulnerable learners. LINK

 

The Core Issue

Calling this “the odd schwa” trivializes what is in fact a systematic distortion. I have taught more than 80 children labeled “dyslexic” who learned to read once they were taught to unlearn the wrong sounds and replace them with the correct ones. Parents who have used my book have seen their children begin reading within weeks. LINK

 

That is not anecdote; it is repeated, observable evidence that correcting extraneous sounds unlocks reading. If distorted consonant sounds are not the primary reason children shut down, then what is? Because until that thorn is pulled out, all other debates about sampling or secondary factors are distractions from the root cause.

 

Analogy

This is where the saying comes in: the human mind is like the human egg — once fertilized by a wrong idea, it is very difficult to fertilize it with the right one. Once children internalize distorted sounds, overwriting them is a battle. That is why I have repeatedly asked for flawed programmes to be corrected or withdrawn rather than dismissed as “harmless entertainment.”