lovebus

That spelling is canon now

Esscaped zoo animals are hard to top

I have a Poly Sci degree... Of course, I think my degree is 100% worthless

It would be useful if you had a job in journalism or some sort of analysis role. It's not the degree's fault you didn't go into a related field.

Linguist here. Rote memorization is used early on teaching a language as it is the fastest way to establish a foundation of often used words. Theoretically it should be used to develop a working vocabulary so that the more arcane skills can be communicated. Unfortunately this transition is never made for several reasons.

There are two main reasons which tie into your sociopolitical framing. The first would be the child not attaining a sufficient reading level before the school system attempts to pivot in reading techniques. If the student falls into remedial reading classes then they will lag behind for years in the best case scenario.

The other reason could just be because the teachers lack the skills to teach children how to "self learn". I wont expand on this because im not an educator and im not privy to the economics/training of American public school teachers. Perhaps one of the teachers reading this could offer their experiences from one of their workshops?

You can still wink so long as you lean into it and really sell it.