SCHOOL: Look to past for future

I note your comment in your editorial this morning (July 6) that “One-third of Idaho students are already behind in reading by fourth grade.” We seem to be spending a lot of time and effort trying to improve graduation rates, and the teaching at the high school level. Few have given any thought as to why children are already behind by the time they leave grammar school.

The problem started more than 75 years ago when we stopped teaching reading using phonics. Most home school mothers know that using phonics is the best way to teach reading and their children generally outperform public school students (see “Why Johnny Can’t Read,” by Rudolf Flesch).

Why are we so unwilling to go back to a system which worked so well in early America? Children who do not learn to read require more remediation at all levels. This means more highly paid teachers. Therefore, the teacher unions oppose this simple solution as does the textbook publishers and the teacher colleges.

Are we afraid to learn from our past mistakes? Millions of dollars have been spent, both public and private, to try and improve education, and Idaho Core (and Common Core) is just the latest in a long list of programs.

If we want success in education, we need to look at programs that have proven success and not a lot of federal programs that are generally doomed to failure. After teaching whole word learning to read for so many years, learning phonics is not all the solution, but it is a huge part of it. Why not give it some serious thought? Comments: [email protected]

JIM HOLLINGSWORTH

Hayden