A note about “drill is bad.”
Whole-Word is a method that require a huge amount of writing and drill—which is how the Chinese learn their ideograms.
But this method is pushed here by so-called educators who absolutely condemn writing and drill! So there is a DOUBLE OBSTACLE: the great difficulty of memorizing English words as designs; PLUS the fact that the school system does not then require the discipline to carry the plan through.
In sum, illiteracy is twice guaranteed.
Unfortunately true. Today's "educators" have a LOT to answer for.