[afraidfortherepublic]

This is a lengthy article with many good references. It's worth taking the time to read the whole thing at the link.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Phonics was not in use in 1965 at the California school where I learned to read. I was reading by the first week.

[NoExpectations]

About 20 years ago, a local school district decided to skip printing and begin cursive in Kindergarten. The program lasted 2-3 years. My friend’s daughter was one of the guinea pigs in that group. She never learned to read until 6th grade since also being denied phonics, they had no idea how to read the LETTERS. Shameful.

[Rutabega]

This is a subject that rouses my anger, for sure! I lived in Scotland the year I would have been in Kindergarten, and was taught phonics by an old pro who had me sing the alphabet phonetically until I knew the sounds backwards and forwards, and she brought me from being able to recognize the letters of the alphabet a la Sesame Street, to reading books with chapters in about six months. From there, I have always been a good speller and love, love, love to read. I thank this Scottish woman for this, wholeheartedly.

My daughter (in America) could not grasp sight reading, and I finally got some help for her in third grade, because she could read only about 100 words, and those; not well. She was taken in for special classes and they taught her phonics (with a lot of help from home) and she could finally read. The awful part was (and I was a middle school teacher and saw this happen to other kids, so I think it is a huge problem) she was labeled with whatever the p.c. version of “Learning Disabled” was, and has been struggling to get out of resource classrooms for the past five years. Because so many school districts give more funding for children with learning problems, it is obvious to me that “sight learning” is just part of the racket for schools to get more money (and inflate administrator pay, among others). My poor kid has busted her rear end, trying to prove she isn’t “dumb”, and she will get the pay off next year.

(Before you all pile on, I was divorced and not getting paid child support from my eurotrash husband, so I can’t imagine how I could possibly have home-schooled).

Sorry to be long-winded, but just my anecdotal evidence on the power of phonics and the idiocy of sight learning.

[rellimpank]

—great article—personal experience tells me it is absolutely correct-—

[defconw]

I learned to read by sight and I was a very good reader. Still am. I think the biggest influence on literacy is not teachers, Department of Education snobs or phonics. It's parents! My mother and grandmother read to me from day one. I had books as a toddler. We went to the library all the time. Reading and books became a habit. I always could read above level.

I was already reading by the time Sesame Street came to be.

[Jack Hydrazine]

The District of Con-Artists (DC) have been conning the American people for over 100 years now.

[oldtech]

As long as kids are kept in stupid mode,they will tend to vote Democrat.