[Ron C.]

It’s called deliberate dumbing-down - and yes, it is a monumental deliberate crime that deserves to be prosecuted for what it was and is.

[aruanan]

English is a phonetic language and must be learned phonetically. Whole Word, the opposing theory, is a mirage, without merit.

This is idiocy. The fact that English is a somewhat phonetic language makes it possible to predict what certain words that are familiar in spoken English may look like in written English such that they may be recognized if a reader is already familiar with them. It also makes it possible to produce a written form that can be recognized and understood by other English readers. It is undeniably true, though, that the number of written English words vastly outnumbers the number of spoken English words. It also does not follow that because English reading may be learned through the use of phonetic approaches that fluent English reading is done through a phonetic process. This is impossible. The speed at which it is performed in adult level fluent reading is far in excess of the time required to employ phonetic rules. Although a phonetic approach can enable a student to gain mastery over the written word in a comparatively easy fashion, compared to learning an idiogram-based language, the adult version of reading is not a phonetic process.

[PoloSec]

Another method of learning to read; that is neglected today in the dumbing down of America, is learning how to identify the meaning of words; by identifying the context, a few years ago I had a boss in his late twenties, he could read some words but was almost clueless as to what he was reading, simple written instructions needed verbal explanations. By the way he was an obvious affirmative action employee, although I’m sure the company would deny it.

[kabumpo]

Don’t agree. At all. I learned whole words, was reading at age 4.

[Designer]

Are there schools that still try to teach sight reading? I thought most schools had returned to phonics. No?

[kitkat]

I never knew until now that I’m illiterate. Strange, I passed all my tests with high marks in a demanding school. And I’ve written and sold several articles on various subjects to large newspapers. Guess I’d better send back the checks because I’m illiterate.

[marsh2]

Phonics doesn’t work with some types of brains. My son couldn’t learn to read that way. They call it a “processing disorder,” but it is a very right brain oriented type of issue and has been associated with dislexia.

My son is 30 now, but as a child, his brain filed words as pictures. When reading a sentence, he would see the action unfold. This has to be whole word reading. It is till difficult to learn to read because of all the abstract words that have no associated picture. Phonetics made no sense at all. A key was speed reading where his brain learned not to stop when he came to an abstract word.

He is extremely intelligent. The armed services courted him in high school because he registered so high as a potential code breaker on tests. He is an original thinker who puts unique things together -very inventive and able to solve problems in troubleshooting complex systems.

IMHO, whoever wrote the article is an idiot.

[Melas]

I never understood exactly how reading became politicized. I was taught using whole word, and we taught our two youngest children (now adults) whole word as we homeschooled. We all read just fine, thank you.

Listening to some of the more rabid phonetic advocates, it’s a miracle that Asian children, with their non-phonetic written languages ever learn to read at all. If everything these advocates claim is true, then these languages would have died in their infancy as it would have been impossible for a sizable amount of the population to learn to read them.

[Clintonfatigued]

My mother taught me to read. It’s lucky for me, as the schools I attended used the whole-word method.

[wintertime]

The people promoting it are too smart not to know what they’re doing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yep! The teachers who agree to use whole word reading are either evil or stupid.

My guess is that the “educators” at the university level are evil.

[wintertime]

The people promoting it are too smart not to know what they’re doing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So?...How do you reform evil? Hm?

The place to start is to call it what it is: Evil!

[metmom]

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the “other” articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)

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[metmom]

HOMESCHOOL PING

This ping list is for articles of interest to homeschoolers. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping List. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added or removed from either list, or both.

The keyword for the FREE REPUBLIC HOMESCHOOLERS’ FORUM is frhf.

Of interest to homeschoolers.

[expat2]

I don't fully agree. My children learned themselves to read at 4 years on my knee -- one of them used phonetics and one of them used the whole word approach. The former was able to handle new words better, while the latter read faster on words that were not new.

I think children should be allowed to use whichever approach works best for them.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

No mention of one of the driving forces behind whole word, none other than Noam Chomsky.

Noam Chomsky, a man who has done more to keep black Americans down than anyone before or since. He is the great oppressor, responsible for the despair and poverty of millions.

And nothing he might ever do, no pain he might ever suffer, will be enough reparations to make up for that.

[therut]

I learned to read by whole word. I am an excellent reader and spell well. I do not know what is best for most people. Maybe, I read well cause I do also have a great memory. Not quite photographic but close. Use what really works well. I want people to read and read well. Nothing will make you as successful and happy in life like reading. You can lean anything if you love to read. And, it is very fun.

[RnMomof7]

This comes up periodically ... I learned whole word as did my children.. ..guess what ?? We all read on a college level..

[Jvette]

I got an email that had the middle letters of the words all mixed up, but the first and last as they should be. It said that my mind automatically corrected the order of the middle letters since I knew the words by sight.

It was interesting.

That being said, I learned phonetically and taught both of my kids before kindergarten the same way. They are both excellent readers.

I teach a class at my church and sometimes I have the kids(teenagers) read aloud. It is brutal to listen to them struggle over the simplest words.

As in learning anything, the foundation is what counts.

[cycjec]

On the link between slavery and reading instruction, see this from John Patterson Green's autobiography, Fact Stranger Than Fiction concerning his father, born a slave:
When he attained his liberty, he had already learned how to read and write ... ... No school door swung upon, or even ajar for him: he learned the alphabet in some mysterious way, for it was a crime to teach a slave to read and write.... father had no instructor save a copy of the then Webster's Elementary Spelling Book, which was his inseparable companion, by night and day, and, with the help of a blind man, whom at times, he led through the street, he was gradually inducted into the mystery of reading
The method in practice between "Daddy" and the blind man was as follows: Dad would call out the letters of a word, and the blind man would tell him how to pronounce it, and "Jack-the-Weazel" like his forebears, being naturally clever, ere long was reading, in the same little book, the monosyllabic sentences, beginning -- "No man may put off the law of G-d"