Page 9 - The Red Well-Read Reader
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gain a well-rounded understanding of our rapidly spinning world. Because the format of The Red
Well-Read Reader does not permit us to delve deeply into any of these subjects, we have
written a companion to The Red Well-Read Reader to help parents and teachers pick up the
gauntlet. It is a book whose value is far disproportional to its small size. It is entitled the
Primer & Comprehension Check .
Philosophy
This little book provides questions pertaining to each of the text’s many stories. The questions
are of two kinds: some check comprehension, while others help broaden students’ understanding
of worldly matters. This book does not provide any answers. The principal reason for this is to
allow parents and teachers to impart their own values, morals and principles. The PP & CC
merely provides an invaluable forum, without which many weighty issues would otherwise likely
never be discussed, either in school or at home. Essentially, parents and teachers are
facilitated to explicate and expound on many critical subject matters. Take, for example, the
couple of stories about campaign rhetoric: these stories and the pertinent questions they elicit
should be of considerable import to help parents and teachers instruct their charges on how to
discern truth from empty promises or outright lies.
Neither the text nor the companion offers any pablum. Together they subtly coax children to
exert themselves to think deeply. Overall this book will help students to develop the ability to
express their thoughts lucidly, cogently, and persuasively. More important, these two books,
used in conjunction with one another, can help parents in their efforts to develop their
children’s character more fully.
To reiterate, The Red Well-Read Reader’s ultimate goal is to help students learn to
THINK–not what to think buthow to think. And if successful then,ipso facto , every student
should become a valiant leader of tomorrow. What’s more, every student should realize that
clear thinking involves not just one’s mind, but one’s mind and one’s heart entwined, both
resonating in harmony with our Creator’s Commandments!
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