In 1998, one of the most important tasks for Jacksonville is to make sure that its children learn to read. The only thing worse is the ''solution'' proposed by President Clinton. He would recruit college students to teach children how to read. The primary effect of this expensive effort would be to provide work for his failing Americorps program in an attempt to justify its cost. This includes money specifically aimed at low-income students, who are believed to be the root of the problem.
Education is a local responsibility and it is one that is taken seriously in Jacksonville.
During the past couple of years, citizen concern about the performance of public schools has led to intense scrutiny of the problems and possible solutions, including an audit of the system's effectiveness and the current review by the New Century Commission on Education. Until ''progressive'' educators decided that it was boring to learn to read, a simple book called the Blue Backed Speller was second in sales only to the Bible. This book taught the 26 letters of the alphabet, the 44 sounds they make and the 70 most common ways to spell those sounds. Children used it and they learned how to read. The progressives decided it would be more exciting if children used ''whole language'' methods.