New York’s literacy crisis: Letters to the Editor — Aug. 15, 2026

The Issue: Majority of third- to fifth-grade students in New York public schools failing their ELA test.

There is no excuse for the declining literacy of New York students (“95% give NYC schools a failing grade,” Aug. 9).

My parents attended segregated schools in the Jim Crow South and still knew how to read, even though their schools didn’t receive the same amount of funding and attention as other schools.

Why don’t we go back to teaching children how to read the way anyone over the age of 40 learned how to read: good old-fashioned phonics?

James Johnson

Brooklyn

What is missing from stories about the abysmal reading and math scores in grades 3-8 is consideration of the cultures children live with at home. The awful teachers unions are culpable, but no more so than these children’s parents and guardians.

Speaking English proficiently, reading to your children and emphasizing learning — rather than watching TV — are crucial example-setting activities. To believe otherwise is a nanny-state mentality that will continue to result in wasted taxpayer money.

Cary MacDonald

Boulder, Colo.

Many decades ago, the method of teaching reading in public schools was changed from phonics to the dumb “look-say.” Now, New York City public school students can barely trudge through a sentence when asked to read from a selection.

Meanwhile, parochial school students are excellent readers. Why? Many parochial schools kept the phonics method of teaching reading.

Public schools have wasted endless dollars on education methods that don’t work. Parents must insist the city rely much more on phonics.

Maureen Healy

Manhattan

The teachers union deserves most of the blame for the stunning drop in ELA proficiency, but there’s another factor that has to be considered, and not just in New York City.

Today’s families need to have two incomes. That means kids are getting picked up by a latchkey program, instead of after-school hours. Then comes preparing dinner, cleaning up and baths. Throw in weekend chores and organized activities, and parents are overwhelmed.

Parents today lack the time to sit and read with their children, the way it used to be when I was a youngster.

Rob Feuerstein

Staten Island

Remote learning during school closures forced by the teacher unions’ was a learning and developmental disaster for all children. Parents, especially the poor, need to demand school choice.

Also, The Post should investigate where the politicians and teacher union members send their children to be educated.

Bruce Collins

Middletown, NJ

The Issue: President Trump’s executive order affirming the CDC’s new childhood vaccine schedule.

I had a friend in college who had polio. Additionally, my late wife suffered from that dreadful disease (“Vax ‘split’ decision,” Aug. 11).

Having seen the challenging lives they led, I cannot understand how any caring parent would not vaccinate his or her child based on a medically-recommended schedule — not one endorsed by an unqualified politician and his equally unqualified health secretary.

Paul Newman

Merion Station, Pa.

Science says vaccines don’t cause autism. Yet President Trump and his supporters are promoting this fallacy and even issuing executive orders that should be shredded.

Vaccines should be available to everyone, free of cost and easily accessible, but that’s not the reality. Getting three vaccines at once takes less time, costs less for appointments and you don’t have to worry about forgetting one. Separating the shots will not help anyone.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Box Hill, Australia

Want to weigh in on today’s stories? Send your thoughts (along with your full name and city of residence) to [email protected]. Letters are subject to editing for clarity, length, accuracy, and style.