Posted on 02/15/2011 3:50:04 PM PST by BruceDeitrickPrice
Rudolf Flesch published “Why Johnny Can’t Read” in 1955. It was a big success and remains one of the best-known books in American history.
In that book Flesch explained the illiteracy crisis in the United States. Had the people in charge of education listened, he might have faded into history. Ironically, the fact that our Education Establishment tried to defame and ignore Flesch is precisely why he remains a cultural icon.
The anti-phonics cartel was so entrenched that Flesch felt compelled to publish a second book 25 years later, “Why Johnny STILL Can’t Read” in 1981. This second book has fewer revelations and does not contain a phonics course. However, “Why Johnny STILL Can’t Read” is actually a better choice for people today who want to learn what Rudolf Flesch is all about, and why we have 50,000,000 functional illiterates. (This great book can be obtained for pennies on Amazon.)
I love this book because Flesch is clear, emphatic, and nails every issue like LeBron James hitting three-pointers from the half-court line. Chapter 2 is called “History of a Gimmick,” that being the perfect word for the many silly fads in education. Chapter 3 is titled “Look-and-Say Exposed.” Chapter 4 is titled “The Great Coverup.”
The next chapter is called “The Ten Alibis,” and Flesch then devotes a chapter to each one of them. This stuff is beautiful because everything Flesch is talking about in 1981 is still going on today. (We are dealing with an ed dinosaur the size of Manhattan--it ain’t retreating an inch unless forced to.)
Here are the 10 chapter titles--that is, the alibis as spoken by the Education Establishment:
“Everything Is Hunky-Dory”
“We Do Teach Phonics”
“No One Method Is Best”
“English Isn’t Phonetic”
“Word Calling Isn’t Reading”
“Your Child Isn’t Ready”
“Your Child Is Disabled”
“It’s the Parents’ Fault”
“Too Much TV”
“We Now Teach ALL Children”
Flesch died somewhat heartbroken, in 1986. Despite his two bestsellers, the public schools were still in bondage to Whole Word at the time of his death. Sight Words (or Dolch Words) still proliferated like crabgrass in every bad school. However, I remain optimistic that Flesch will have the last laugh.
I’ve written a lot of articles explaining why Whole Word is blatantly absurd. A preposterous and vicious hoax. I think this will become the common view.
Some people learn to read with sight-words in the sense that they use this method as a STEPPING STONE to the correct way. That is, students see through the sight-words and find the phonics. But virtually nobody actually reads WITH slight-words. Memorizing even 1000 graphic symbols with instant recall is beyond all but the hand full of humans with photographic memory. The slower, less verbal students don’t find the phonics; these kids never reach fluent reading and become functional illiterates.
I strongly recommend “Why Johnny STILL Can’t Read” to everyone. It is both passionate and scholarly. I especially recommend that public school teachers and officials order a copy of this book so they’ll understand why the methods they were taught in ed school are kid-killers, and must be eliminated from the schools.
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Link at top of this article leads to SIX REVIEWS on Amazon of Flesch’s "Why Johnny STILL Can't Read."
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For a QUICK SUMMARY of the Reading Wars, see “42: Reading Resources” on Improve-Education.org, at this link: www.improve-education.org/id65.html
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Uh, hellooo, it is the parents' fault. If the school is failing to provide little Johnny with a proper education then the parents need to step up to the plate and make sure their tax dollars are being handled properly. Go to school board meetings and demand answers. Run for school board. Form a PTO. Demand answers from the state legislature and make the state abide by state laws. Transfer Johnny to another school or homeschool him. Far too many parents move into a new home without checking out the schools their kids will be attending so, again, it's a failure on the parents' part. When parents can't be bothered to help their kids with homework or even see that it's being done rather than letting the tv or computer babysit for them, then that's hardly the school's fault that Johnny can't read. Is it any wonder that lazy parents leave it up to the schools to give Johnny condoms?
ping for later response.
My kids all learned to read early (the oldest was reading to his 3yr old preschool class). They loved watching “The Electric Company”. This was 30 to 35 years ago. So I searched and found the old Electric Company shows on DVD for my 8 month old granddaughter to watch someday soon. PHONICS please, thank you very much! :)
Of course, this is not what the Education Establishment meant, so you are being somewhat ironic.
Having said that, I rush on to say I agree completely; and I love this attitude. Aggressive and surly parents demanding that schools do a better job! Ah, that’s a happy thought.
(I have earlier collected ideas for taking back the schools; I’ll add your ideas to the collection for posting some day.)
“Its a word...its a plan...its Letterman!”
Johnny doesn’t need to read. Johnny doesn’t need to write. All Johnny needs to know is how to swipe his welfare debit card.
To Update this classic work the name should be changed to “Why Jamal and Juan Can’t Read.”
I can give you the real answer in two words: Teacher’s Union.
Hmm...An update might require some new chapters- Jamal would tell the teacher to X@#! off when told to open a book, and Juan doesn’t read or speak English.... As for a teacher’s union, well, y’all can keep that Yankee stuff up north....
You don’t have the National Education Association (teacher’s union) where you are? I thought they were in all 50 states and probabaly the other 7 that only our president knows about.
They have an arm here- the NCAE. But it isn’t a union- no collective bargaining, etc., and nobody has to be a member. They mostly function as lobbyists at the state government level.
While the NEA is present in all states, in “Right to Work” states the unions are nothing more than associations with very little power in impacting decisions. The exceptions would be in urban area where large membership can impact local policy, but not state-wide.
While the NEA is present in all states, in “Right to Work” states the unions are nothing more than associations with very little power in impacting decisions. The exceptions would be in urban area where large membership can impact local policy, but not state-wide.
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