I came across some good news today. The kind of news that makes me think that there’s some hope for America and its citizens.
“What is this good news?” you might ask.
It’s simple, really: Schools are beginning to teach phonics again.
“Is that all?” I can hear you reply. “That’s not such a big deal!”
Au contraire! Teaching phonics is a very big deal because, by teaching phonics, we enable literacy to surge, which makes knowledge soar, which, in turn, brings common sense and understanding back to the minds of the voting public.
That America has finally realized the importance of phonics is evident in a recent New York Times article by Bella DiMarco, “Sounding Out a Better Way to Teach Reading.” DiMarco described how early grade school students in central Virginia sound out letters without any cues to help them guess. The joy on their faces when the sounds of the letters click into a word gives a good picture of how much of a decoding game reading is. Once you know the key to the code, everything becomes clear….