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WHOLE LANGUAGE, PHONICS and READING

Posted Jun 4, 2006

Last Updated Jun 21, 2012

Here is a mystery: Why Did Our Schools Use Reading Instruction That Didnâ€™t Instruct Children How To Read?

Starting around 1925 whole language (aka look-say) took over American education. The take-over lasted more than 60 years. The debate continues but phonics is back on top.

I am working on a tribute to Rudolph Flesch, the lonely prophet who wrote â€œWhy Johnny Canâ€™t Readâ€ (1955) and, 25 years later, â€œWhy Johnny STILL Canâ€™t Read.â€ Everything he said seems to me common sense. But the educational establishment, to a remarkable degree, was able to ignore him, stonewall him and discredit him. How? Why?

More and more, I find only two viable theories to explain this mysterious bit of American history. 1) Our top-level educators were earnest bumblers, or 2) Our top-level educators were clever subversives who pushed look-say as a way to level or dumb down millions of students.

Flesch maintains that so-called dyslexia is virtually unknown when children are taught phonetically. By seven or eight, at the latest, children are wired to read. Not being able to read is a statistically rare thing, like blindness or deafness. But look-say generated millions of people with weird reading problems, and jobs for thousands of people who were called in to remedy the problems. Let's suppose, with Flesch, that all this pain and failure were unnecessary. Flesch writes two books explaining how things really are. But educators ignore him. The suffering continues; illiteracy makes a comeback. It's a very sad story.
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UPDATE/END OF 2006: THE ARTICLE APPEARED AS "A TRIBUTE TO RUDOLPH FLESCH." IT'S VERY GOOD. I'M NOW WORKING ON A RANT ABOUT JOHN DEWEY, THE GUY IN THE PICTURE, TO BE CALLED "PHOOEY ON DEWEY." THIS IS THE QUACK WHO STARTED THE DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICAN EDUCATION. DEWEY AND HIS COLLEAGUES SET LOOSE THE WHIRLWIND THAT FLESCH HAD TO FIGHT 50 YEARS LATER. WE ARE STILL FIGHTING IT!!! BOTTOM LINE: LOOK-SAY WAS PUSHED PRECISELY BECAUSE IT LEVELED CHILDREN DOWNWARD AND UNDERCUT LITERACY. THAT'S HARSH, RIGHT? BUT THE EVIDENCE IS OVERWHELMING.

The tribute to Flesch is on my essay site, Improve-Education.org.

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Insightful analysis on the whole language vs. phonics debate! ???? The impact of reading instruction methods on literacy rates is indeed a crucial topic. Rudolph Flesch's work highlights how phonics-based approaches are essential for building strong reading skills. It's surprising how long the educational system resisted these commonsense methods.

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This is a well-balanced and thoughtful exploration of whole language vs. phonics in reading education. I really appreciated how you explained both methods clearly, highlighting their strengths and challenges. It’s refreshing to see such a nuanced take on a topic that often sparks debate. The inclusion of real-world context adds great value. Thank you for shedding light on this important aspect of literacy development!

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