In the year 7BHH (Before Hoosier Huddle) I posted about the astounding educational miracle happening in Mississippi-once seen as one of the most backwards states (We even had a thread about that around 20BHH.
Below is an update. When I posted before, Mississippi rose from the bottom to the middle in primary reading skills. Now it is near the top for Black students. Meanwhile progressive states like California is getting worse. That’s good news for Mississippi. Better news is that the reading miracle is spreading to other states, but not to progressive states.
The key to a vibrant functioning society is good education. The key to good education is literacy. The key to literacy is the tried and true bedrocks of phonics, teacher training, and accountability. None of that takes more money. All it takes is a well defined fundamental purpose.
https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/illiteracy-is-a-policy-choice
Some argument about the extent of the effect:
https://substack.com/@freddiedeboer/note/c-167000623
DeBoer's main points are this:
The gains from phonics are modest, they only apply to some learners, they do not appear in research on children after second or third grade, and they do not lead to meaningful improvement in comprehension, which is what is actually useful to young readers. Most students learn to read just fine no matter what the system, and students at the higher end of the performance spectrum don't need to be taught at all.
A much longer piece from DeBoer arguing that education really doesn't matter as much as we think, in the sense of schools, types of teaching methods, etc.:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/10/phonics-education-california-mississippi-schools/
deBoer is more ideological than educational substance. The point is that with sound educational methods, the performance of all can be better. This isn’t about relative movement.
https://www.joannejacobs.com/post/a-radical-idea-to-improve-schools-do-what-works
Kinda hard to take that complaint seriously given the article of his I linked. It’s full of substance.https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/10/phonics-education-california-mississippi-schools/
deBoer is more ideological than educational substance. The point is that with sound educational methods, the performance of all can be better. This isn’t about relative movement.
https://www.joannejacobs.com/post/a-radical-idea-to-improve-schools-do-what-works
Disagree. I think his points 2 and 3 are complete hogwash. He is firmly imbedded in the bigotry of low expectations. An illiterate person might be very smart.
More here. The rise of southern education is not just about literacy, large doses of discipline and personal responsibility are also important.
There are many ways the liberal mindset deprives youngsters of not only a good education, but also a decent start in life. Important life lessons are learned with discipline, responsibility, and accountability. Excessive leniency for bad conduct is not doing a favor.