I would love to see participants in “make kids read the classics” vs “assign more diverse works” debate try cite one (1) piece of relevant research to support either position or convince me that this matters.

There is really strong evidence for the view that many American schools are failing young kids by not emphasizing phonics enough (not at my kid’s school though!) but it’s at least not obvious to me that this “which books to assign” controversy with older kids has any stakes.

Read @DanaGoldstein on phonics and Garrison Elementary — this is a pedagogical dispute with very high stakes.

Kids who can’t read can’t read the classics or anything else! https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/15/us/reading-phonics.html