| For many adults, reading a book or newspaper | | | | Author and education researcher Charles J. Sykes |
| seems effortless. Yet reading effortlessly comes | | | | describes whole-language reading instruction in one |
| from constant use of basic skills learned at an | | | | first-grade classroom in his book "Dumbing Down |
| early age. Once children learn these basic skills, | | | | Our Kids": |
| they can eventually read complex books like War | | | | "Reading instruction begins with "pre-reading |
| and Peace. | | | | strategies" in which "children predict what the |
| What are these skills? To read, one must | | | | story is about by looking at the title and the |
| recognize thousands of words. Since all English | | | | pictures. Background knowledge is activated to |
| words are built from only twenty-six letters, the | | | | get the children thinking about the reading topic." |
| huge task of recognizing letters and their sounds | | | | Then they read the story. If a child does not |
| and putting them together to form words | | | | recognize a word, they are told to "look for |
| becomes greatly simplified. An English-speaking | | | | clues." |
| child only has to sound out the letters and then | | | | "The whole-language curriculum gave specific |
| put the sounds together to read the word. | | | | suggestions that children: "Look at the pictures," |
| I do not wish to over-simplify the complexity of | | | | ask "What would make sense?" "Look for |
| our rich English language, however. Like other | | | | patterns," "Look for clues," and "Skip the word |
| western languages, English has its peculiarities. For | | | | and read ahead and then go back to the word." |
| example, many vowels have more than one | | | | Finally, if all this fails, parents/teachers are told, |
| sound, and many sounds can be spelled more | | | | "Tell the child the word. . . ." |
| than one way. However, even with these | | | | "When kids couldn't figure out a word, |
| complexities, English is far easier to learn than | | | | educationists gave these further ions: "Ask a |
| Chinese, where children have to memorize | | | | friend, skip the word, substitute another |
| thousands of word pictures, rather than | | | | meaningful word." Sykes then asks, "Look at the |
| twenty-six letters and their sounds. | | | | pictures. Skip the word. Ask a friend. Is this |
| Reading is difficult at first, but, once learned, the | | | | reading?" |
| process becomes automatic and unconscious. | | | | During the 1990s, when whole-language instruction |
| When we can read quickly without sounding out | | | | was in full force, outraged parents bitterly |
| every letter of every word, all the knowledge of | | | | complained about their children's deteriorating |
| the world opens to us. However, like learning to | | | | ability to read. In response, public schools across |
| drive a car, if we don't learn the basic skills, we | | | | the country then reverted to their usual tactics --- |
| don't learn to read, or we read poorly. | | | | they kept the failed policy but changed its name |
| Enter public-school education theorists who think | | | | to fool parents. |
| otherwise. Don't adults read without sounding out | | | | Many public schools today say they now teach |
| every letter of every word, they ask? So why | | | | kids to read with "balanced reading instruction." |
| teach children phonics? Why put children through | | | | What this means is they combine whole-language |
| the alleged boredom, drudgery, and hard work of | | | | instruction with a smattering of phonics. "See," |
| learning letter-sounds? How can reading be joyful | | | | they can say to parents, "we are now teaching |
| if literature becomes drills? If children memorize | | | | your kids phonics." The only problem is that too |
| whole words instead of putting together letter | | | | often the "balance" is still about 80 percent |
| sounds, all this pain will be gone. Rather than | | | | whole-language, and 20 percent phonics, if and |
| teaching kids the alphabet and how to sound out | | | | when the teacher thinks phonics is "needed" in |
| M-O-T-H-E-R, teach them to recognize MOTHER | | | | "special cases." |
| and other whole words in a book, like Chinese | | | | If you were a doctor and were treating a patient |
| word-pictures or ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. | | | | for a serious infection, would you give the patient |
| Have the child read simple books that repeat each | | | | a "balanced" cure of arsenic and antibiotics? That |
| word over and over, so that they come to | | | | is the moral and practical status of "balanced" |
| recognize the word. Do this for each word, they | | | | reading instruction where whole-language |
| claim, and the child will learn to read. This is called | | | | instruction still predominates, because |
| "whole-language" reading instruction. | | | | whole-language is the arsenic of reading-instruction |
| The only problem is that whole-language doesn't | | | | methods. |
| work. It is a disaster. Most young children are only | | | | Parents, don't let public-school officials fool you |
| able to "memorize" a few hundred relatively | | | | with their glib talk of "balanced reading instruction." |
| simple words. Even an adult's mind can only | | | | You need to personally investigate how your local |
| memorize at most, a few thousand words. That's | | | | school teaches your kids to read. The best thing |
| the limit of the human mind's capacity to | | | | to do is to test your children's true reading abilities |
| memorize abstract symbols. In contrast, children | | | | with an outside, independent testing company. |
| who learn to sound out the letters of words with | | | | You may be shocked by the outcome of the |
| phonics can read tens of thousands of words, and | | | | test. The Resources section of "Public Schools, |
| eventually read ANY word, because they can | | | | Public Menace," lists many such independent |
| sound out each letter in the word and put the | | | | reading-testing companies. |
| sounds together. | | | | |