Rahm Emanuel’s remark that the number one class for college freshmen today is remedial reading should have sent shockwaves through the education establishment. Instead, it barely registers. Dale Chu shared it, The Principal’s Office confirmed what every high school English teacher already knows: “The kids won’t read. We’re really trying, but they aren’t.”
This is not a revelation. It is an indictment. And it is proof that the so‑called experts — the professors, PhDs, and authority pundits — have failed.
For decades, the percentage of children leaving school unable to read has remained stubbornly the same. Yet the airwaves are filled with the voices of Dr. David Boulton, Prof. Pamela Snow, Dr. Andrew Johnson, Dr. Mark Seidenberg, Debbie Hepplewhite, Stacy Hurst, Tom Bennett OBE, and others. They are celebrated, credentialed, and endlessly quoted. But what have they delivered? Generations of children who cannot read without remediation.
The Fraud of Expertise
Pessoa Lazarinho put it bluntly: “Stupidity is contagious. In America, even the smart people are stupid.” He meant the officially pronounced smart — those with degrees, awards, jobs, and accolades. These are the authority pundits. And yet, despite their dominance, the literacy crisis persists.
Why? Because they cling to myths and distractions. They tell us dyslexia is caused by phonological awareness deficit. They claim English is too opaque. They dismiss rote memorization of Dolch words. They recycle slogans like “reading is biologically unnatural.”
Meanwhile, children are taught to guess from pictures, memorize words as shapes, or “read for meaning” before they can decode. Bright, logical children shut down when confronted with this confusion. The result: remedial reading becomes the most popular class in college.
Cui Bono?
The last three generations did not end up struggling by accident. Cui bono? Who benefits from this failure? Publishers selling endless programs. Consultants peddling new “science of reading” packages. Academics securing grants by perpetuating myths.
The pundits are either incompetent or controlled by puppeteers. They do not want the really smart kids to learn to read. And so the cycle continues: illiteracy, remediation, profit.
The Real Solution
The solution is not complicated. Teach the correct sounds of letters. Tell children early that letters often represent more than one sound. Require rote mastery of high‑frequency words. Remove confusion at the start.
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This is what I have documented for years on Dyslexiafriend.com. This is what I have seen in practice with over 80 children who could read in Malay, or Pinyin (Chinese) but were wrongly labeled “dyslexic” in English.
A Call to Outrage
Remedial reading in college is not just a statistic. It is a betrayal. It is proof that the education establishment has failed in its most basic duty. And until we stop listening to authority pundits and start demanding clarity, consistency, and accountability, the betrayal will continue.
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