Bingo.
It's Whole Language and Child Centered Learning.
I have decided this method of NOT teaching children to read and write was brought in for the purpose of dumbing down society and it has worked.
I tutor kids from Grades 1 through 6 to teach them how to read, spell and write properly. They are all the same. Products of this whacky whole language method.
What a difference in makes in a child's life when they see that they are actually not stupid (which is what they think of themselves), but were just not taught properly. It is amazing.
I have seen it way too much in the last 18 years. When my oldest started school, (public) none of the teachers, all hired in the previous 3 years, taught phonics. The principal and superintendant got a real shocket when the rate of 1st graders who could read went from 80%+ (itself damn poor compared to the 100% when I was in 1st grade) to 30%. Most of that 30% who could read were like my son, who was taught phonetically by my wife at home and could read in kindergarten.
These intrepid administrators fast-talked their way out of being fired by the school board by blaming it on the influx of 'trailer trash' and illegal aliens. No mention of the whole language crapola that was enthusiastically implemented during their tenure. Several of the teachers, very concerned by the results, hooked up with some older teachers at other schools and were introduced to phonics. These kids were shocked. This was not even mentioned briefly to them in their college training. One retired teacher put on an 'underground' seminar to re-train these teachers.
When the administrators found out that phonics had infiltrated their whole language bastion, you would have thought a pedophile was loose in the classrooms from the fuss raised. The teachers using phonics were threatened with dismissal. Very disgusting. We pulled our kids out of the public system and went into the Catholic parochial system. Never have regretted that decision since. We left the public didaster area in 1994