Half a century after "Why Johnny Can't Read" exposed America's literacy crisis, the situation has become a national disgrace—and the education establishment likes it that way.
A staggering 25% of young adults are now functionally illiterate, unable to read beyond basic sentences despite graduating high school. But when states try to implement proven, science-based reading instruction, they face fierce resistance from what can only be described as a curriculum cartel determined to maintain their stranglehold on education.
The evidence is overwhelming: phonics-based instruction works. States that have embraced the science of reading are seeing remarkable results, particularly in the Deep South where literacy rates have dramatically improved after decades of failure.
Follow the Money
So why does the education establishment fight tooth and nail against methods that actually teach kids to read? The answer is simple: money and power.
The curriculum cartel—a web of publishers, consultants, and education bureaucrats—has built a multi-billion dollar industry around failed "whole language" and "balanced literacy" approaches. These methods keep teachers dependent on expensive programs and endless professional development while students remain trapped in illiteracy.
"The dirty secret is that keeping kids struggling benefits the system. Struggling readers need more interventions, more specialists, more programs—all of which means more money flowing to the education industrial complex."
Meanwhile, parents who dare question these failed methods are branded as extremists and shut out of decision-making. Sound familiar? It's the same playbook used by every other entrenched bureaucracy that puts self-interest above the people they're supposed to serve.
Trump's Education Revolution
President Trump's second-term agenda includes dismantling the federal Department of Education and returning control to states and parents. This represents an existential threat to the curriculum cartel's power structure—which explains their hysterical opposition.
When states are free to choose proven reading methods without federal interference, children succeed. When bureaucrats control the process, kids suffer while consultants get rich.
The choice is clear: Do we continue enabling an education establishment that profits from failure, or do we finally put American children first? Patriots know the answer.