#ihateoxfordreadingtree Part One (I feel there will be more)

My hatred for the Oxford reading Tree is almost impossible to express.

But I shall try.

I loathe it.

I hate the puce yellow reading record books that come with it. I hate the banal stories. I hate that my son, who can read some damned complicated words and phrases, is having his intelligence insulted with this shit.

It didn’t bode well when 18 months ago the school invited all the “new” primary one parents to a meeting with the sole purpose of introducing us to this reading programme. By this time I’d already seen two of my children complete primary school with perfectly adequate literacy skills (actually quite a bit more than adequate, both got Credit 1 in SG English a year early). They managed this without the “aid” of the ORT. I couldn’t tell you what programme they followed, a bit of Jolly Phonics and a variety of books if I remember rightly. Definitely there were no parent meetings about how they were going to teach them to read.

So there was a real “Who are you trying to convince here?” feel to the whole thing.

I immediately disengaged and have remained so.

My antipathy towards homework isn’t knew, but gawd it’s growing.

The ORT has tipped me over the edge into open rebellion.

I don’t even bother opening his book bag most evening. Sometimes it’s not even his he brings home and I don’t notice for days.

I did see this week’s reading book though. I dropped it. I picked it up.

I opened it up and I gave it a good old FFS.

Yup – that’s a CAMCORDER.

Even better – see the notes that came with it?

Film? Cassette? Video?

My 15 year old couldn’t pick these things out of an assorted tray of junk – not even for a box of Haribo.

When the feck was this written?

3 years before my eldest was even born.

This book is nearly TWENTY years old.

W.T.F.?