Problem

One former president stated that a priority for his second term was to be education (which never happened), a former governor announced a multi-million dollar plan to deal with illiteracy in his state. A number of congressmen have come out in favor of educational reforms to win support from their constituents. Mounting public concern has made it attractive for politicians to “make hay” about education in general and illiteracy in particular. It seems to have become “politically correct” to find fault with education. 

In fairness to education, we expect our systems to be agents for social change, to provide food service, to bear burdens resulting from broken families, and to maintain standards in spite of drugs and violence. Our school systems are dealing with a lot of problems, but problems do make opportunities and there is an opportunity in how English is being taught.

  The teaching of English needs refreshed techniques consistent with our powerful new technologies. The majority of Americans seem to view their language as a utility instead of a precision instrument. We contend that this is the result of the lackluster models provided by educators and other influencers. Sir Winston Churchill, among others, demonstrated before the world what can be done with skillful use of words. He rallied the world’s forces to protect his nation and to defeat the most powerful foe ever. Why have so many of us failed to learn what he so masterfully taught?

The teaching of English needs refreshed techniques consistent with our powerful new technologies. There are impassioned debates about the best methods to teach English in America, and the current contest for many is between “phonics” and “whole language.” We contend that phonics taught properly stands like a giant among pigmies and that the wrangling that sometimes rages serves as evidence as to a lack of understanding of what language instruction can and should be.   

The teaching of English needs refreshed techniques consistent with our powerful new technologies. Native Americans have as a birthright the most magnificent and powerful tool in the world. Still, we fail to create excitement about language to an extent where illiteracy becomes a national emergency. The public school systems have had relatively easy access to tax dollars and yet we find concerted efforts to augment the shortcomings by appeals to create supplemental public programs and to enlist individual volunteers and nonthreatening involvement of the private sector. Why are we unable to address the matter more firmly at the point of failure? 

The teaching of English needs refreshed techniques consistent with our powerful new technologies. The public school systems, by reason of national decree, are obliged to provide education to all children. They have responded by complex administrative processes and definitions calling for expensive diagnostic procedures, various classifications, categories and harsh labeling of children and their characteristics. Still, many children fall through the slats and those from financially able families land in private schools that specialize in remediation. From first hand experience we know that many of these “at risk” or “learning disabled” children can achieve superior performance when placed in the right hands and taught under the right program. What happens to all those whose families cannot afford private education?

The teaching of English needs refreshed techniques consistent with our powerful new technologies. It is probably safe to say that the use of “phonics” is generally thought to be an appropriate means to teach reading to children whose language skills are wanting. Otherwise, we are likely to hear that “phonics” is unnecessary or inappropriate. There may be a very good reason why “phonics” works for those whose acquisition of language has fallen behind. Consider: Virtually all children learn to converse and carry on their relationships with friends and family in their years before school. They learn their language aurally until the time of school, whereupon the emphasis is largely changed to teaching language visually. In a well constructed phonics program the aural avenues are continued and enriched while the visual avenues are added to the process. Beyond this, tactile and recital elements are used to complete the use of all possible avenues to the mind which is heralded as “multi-sensory.” If this approach is accepted for “learning disabled” children, the question arises, if multi-sensory works for children whose language skills fall below the line, what happens to children with typical or superior innate language skills. We think we have evidence to show that all children with average or better intelligence will progress in a phonics reading program and that children with latent and undeveloped language skills will surge ahead. 

The teaching of English needs refreshed techniques consistent with our powerful new technologies. The difficulty with serious phonics programs designed for professional use is that the teacher training requirements are extended and laborious. The teaching of phonics needs to be simple and consistent for the teacher and the students. This can be done only through the use of computers and computers have had a difficult time achieving their rightful place in the elementary school systems. Schools have often obtained the funds to install excellent systems but effective use of these sophisticated machines is another matter. This enigma is well known by the educational intelligentsia but not by the public at large. We have yet to cross the technology divide in many elementary schools. 

SUMMARY: Assuming that we can successfully defend our assertion that the teaching of English needs refreshed techniques consistent with our powerful new technologies and that our supporting opinions are valid, being: there is a general lack of appreciation for our language, that educators are not coming to grips with the problem from the inside, that administrative processes are too involved, that there is a lack of understanding of what phonics is and what it could do for all students of the English language, and that the most important tool to help solve the problem is not well integrated into elementary education, then what do we do? 

We cannot expect to change the way things are done by simply defining the problem no matter how accurately or eloquently we do it. Maybe Reinhold Niebuhr’s words have a message for  us: 

The Serenity Prayer 

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

No matter how we as individuals, or all of us as a nation, feel about the need for change and improvement in education, the educational system and structure is so large that tugging on the rudder will not turn the ship. We need a little wisdom in deciding what we can do and that, it can be argued, is to get aboard the ship and work to improve how it functions rather than to attempt to change its course. 

We think there is an opportunity to offer a reading/language training program that can be embraced by our educators; that can make it possible for them to do a better job without upsetting their processes, without eliminating all the extra things they do, and without putting them at professional risk. 

We have the ability to create a program which: 

·         Is suited to virtually all students with at least average intelligence. 

·         Draws students into the language so that their work is not so tedious and that their progress constantly stimulates them through the use of relevant, informational practice reading material and “puzzle like” exercises. 

·         Eases the chore that teachers must bear to fulfill their roles by virtually eliminating lesson planning and having within the program elements that stimulate motivation and reduce classroom management problems. 

·         Embodies “phonics” in a way that calls out its best elements without unachievable teacher training demands and without excessive technical complications. 

·         Utilizes the computers in ways so simple that teachers not so inclined can easily adjust to them. 

·         Young children can quickly become proficient computer users. 

·         Opens the way for administrators to decide to adopt a new program without undo professional risks. 

This is what we have done in America’s Phonics!