It seems everybody but the educators know that phonics-intensive methods work best for teaching reading, yet most schools use the discredited whole-word method. Fifty years of research clearly show phonics works.
The whole-word method has a very low success rate in inner-city schools, where it is not uncommon to find 75% of the children failing in reading. African-American children start kindergarten and first grade with the odds stacked against them.
White suburban schools also suffer lowered reading scores, but they tend to have better quality remedial classes which drill the students in phonics. Also, middle class parents often seek out tutoring programs or simply buy commercial phonics programs for their kids.
What this adds up to is massive academic failure and low self esteem for black kids, who drop out, join gangs, turn to drugs, sex, and crime. A sickening and tragic scenario that all starts with the public schools' failure to teach reading. Cosby knows this and that's why he chastised black parents who weren't helping their children by buying "Hooked on Phonics."
"The whole-word method has a very low success rate in inner-city schools, where it is not uncommon to find 75% of the children failing in reading. African-American children start kindergarten and first grade with the odds stacked against them."
Hmmm....I recall an example from back in the '60s. My little brother had missed a spelling word on a 4th grade test. As he was quite studious, he was dissapointed. It turns out he had (correctly)written the word 'flow'. The (black) teacher told my mom, "No, de woid was flow, like you puts yo feets on da flow." (The word was floor.) Phonics wouldn't help here . It's not just a black thing. Most regional dialects sound strange to outsiders, but 'ebonics' seem to be nationally similar and in many cases, intentional. I don't mean for this to sound racist if it does. This is a true story.