# Phonics: Education bows to Agenda **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 6, 2003, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonics-education-bows-to-agenda/186543 "2003-07-06T09:23:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonics-education-bows-to-agenda/186543/21 "2003-07-07T22:24:45Z")
‘Scientifically tested’ methods would refer to any method that is backed by research. I am a teacher, and I can tell you that there is plenty of research being done on a variety of methods besides phonics, and any responsible teacher is already familiar with the research, keeping updated on the latest research, and implementing in his/her classroom a variety of techniques. Although there has been a push- mostly be people on the right who aren’t very familiar with educational methods- towards phonics, I think most elementary school teachers are still teaching with a variety of methods. If you know of a school system that has mandated phonics-only reading teaching, I’d love to know its name. I’m not saying such a school does not exist, but I don’t think you’ll find anywhere near a majority, as the OP implies. ---
**Author:** ![Razorsharp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@Razorsharp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razorsharp)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonics-education-bows-to-agenda/186543/22 "2003-07-08T16:42:19Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by even sven \* > \*\* "Conservative’ is the perfect word to discuss their approuch to education. Instead of taking advantage of years of human progress and study, they want to go “back to basics”. They reject all new ideas in teaching. They reject all intellectual approuches to human learning. Instead, they push for a “standardized, scientifically tested, ditto-able, testable” material._\* No, you’ve got it “bass-ackwards”. See, society has mistakenly listened to the self-annointed “intellectuals” and their proposals for new and better “methods” for forty-some years now, and the results have spoken for themselves. Instead of progression within the public education instututions, there has been re-gression. Finally, people are standing up and saying, “enough is enough”. Parents are demanding that public education go back to the tried and true “basics”. The legislators that are actually listening to the legitimate concerns of “The People”, you are attempting to defame as “conservatives”. > [@](#): > > **Teachers are degreed professionals. They go to school for years to learn to do their job, and they must continue their education throughout their career. And yet teachers are generally regarded as extremely incompetant.** But all we have to go on to evaluate teachers, is the results of their “teaching”. Forty years ago, every high-school graduate, from the valedictorian, to the student at the bottom of the class, could read. Today, after what you speak of as “intellectual approaches to human learning”, we have high-school graduates that cannot read or are functionally illiterate. Again, the results speak for themselves. Enough is enough!! > [@](#): > > \*\* We are about to raise a generation of busy-work-doers and test takers, but not a generation of readers, writers, thinkers and life long learners. \*\* This is precisely what the public education establishment, after being infected with the liberal orthodoxy, has been putting out for the past quarter-century. Work-drones who lack the mental skills required to make change without the aid of a calculator. ## George C. Collinsworth A liberal’s worst nightmare; A redneck with both a library card and a concealed-carry permit. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonics-education-bows-to-agenda/186543/23 "2003-07-08T17:03:22Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* \*\*I won’t give you 60%, because I refuse to acknowledge “thru.” That leaves you with hiccup, sough, and slough–less than 60% Although a hiccough is loud, it will not sough through the boughs in the slough Let’s count, shall we? First, the overall total. “hiccough” That’s one. “sough” That’s two. “through” That’s three. “boughts” That’s four. “slough” That’s five. Now, let’s see, you admit to three out of five being archaic or obsolete. Let’s do some basic math: Three out of five comes out to three-fifths. Three-fifths is equal to six tenths. Six tenths is equal to sixty one-hundredths. Sixty one-hundredths is usually equal to sixty percent. “sixty percent” can also be written as “60%”. So, can you please explain to me, how it is one can be a self-styled master of basic education and not be able to realize that three out of five equals 60%? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonics-education-bows-to-agenda/186543/24 "2003-07-08T17:29:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Let’s count, shall we? Yes, let’s: 1. Although 2. hiccough 3. sough 4. through 5. boughs 6. slough. Three of six is 50%. (Your math seems OK–once you learn to count.) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonics-education-bows-to-agenda/186543/25 "2003-07-08T20:48:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Elemenopy \* > \*\*I’ve noticed, through studying the subject and experiences with other people, that those who do “pronounce” words mentally, seem to be poorer readers and learned to read in school with phonics. Those who read before attending school don’t experience this, and are faster and more “fluent” readers. Of course, I may simply be paying more attention to situations that match my experience (as described above). \*\* Well, I was reading at age four and I “hear” words in my head. If I run across a given name that I can’t come up with a plausible pronunciation for, it can interrupt my reading, but I really doubt I could be considered a slow or poor reader. (I read four books over the weekend, for what it’s worth.) I think people just tend to have dominant brain traits. I am a very aural person–I learn best through hearing, whether at a lecture or thrrough verbal instructions. I have a very good memory for things I’ve heard, including music or voice recognition, while I have a relatively poor memory for things I’ve seen. I think that probably plays a role. Julie ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonics-education-bows-to-agenda/186543/26 "2003-07-08T20:58:26Z")
Different thought: If you don’t hear the words in your head, how do you know if something rhymes? Julie [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonics-education-bows-to-agenda/186543.md?page=1)