Learning

When my oldest son was in kindergarten in the late 1980s, I became friends with a retired schoolteacher who had been a reading specialist in the public school system for 50 years. She asked if my son’s teacher was using phonics to teach reading. I answered that the teacher was using the whole language method. My friend shook her head, declared that phonics was the only way to teach reading, and bemoaned that children throughout this country were not being taught the necessary tools of phonics. Without this tool, she continued, schools will create a nation of illiterates.

Since then, I have discovered the truth of my friend’s statement and concern. Did you know that dyslexia and functional illiteracy did not exist prior to the 1930s in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, and the United States – all countries using a phonetic alphabet? No dyslexia, no reading disability, no illiteracy except for those who were not taught to read, states the Austrian author of Why Johnny Can’t Read. Prior to the 1930s, phonics was taught; after the 1930s, other methods were substituted for phonics either partially or completely.

In fact, the founding era of this country began with well-educated individuals. It has been estimated that during the Colonial period, the literacy rate in New England ranged from 62% for women up to 95% for men. Their books were the KJV Bible and non-religious books.

For an example of this massive literacy, in 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense and within two months had sold more than 100,000 copies. To put this into perspective, a non-fiction, philosophical book in 1985 would have had to sell eight million copies within two months. The only event that gets that kind of attention is the Superbowl.

Unfortunately, our country has serious problems with reading. … And science and math. Clearly, if someone cannot read, that individual cannot learn math or science or anything else that requires reading. In addition, poor readers are adversely affected as adults, being limited in their employment abilities.

An in-depth study of American public education on an international level was performed by McKinsey & Company, a business consulting firm. Their report, “The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools” from April 2008, is a scathing indictment of the poor level to which America’s public schools have fallen. Here are two statements from the report:

“The United States lags significantly behind other advanced nations in educational performance and is slipping further behind on some important measures.”

“In addition, the gap between ours and others’ performance widens the longer children are in school.”

Closer to home, The Duncan Banner reported on June 19, 2003 that on a national test only 36% of Oklahoma high-school seniors “could understand and analyze challenging material. That skill level, defined as proficient, is the focal point of the test.” Proficiency means at grade level. In addition, Oklahoma fourth and eighth graders “showed a significant decline” in reading performance.

From the latest national test, known as the Nation’s Report Card, or NAEP, only 26.5% Oklahoma’s fourth and eighth graders were reading on grade level. State Sen. Earl Garrison (D-Muskogee), a longtime educator who holds a doctorate in education, wrote on September 23, 2008 in the Muskogee Phoenix, "More than 20 percent of our state's population, or nearly 400,000 people, can't read."


McKinsey ended their report with this statement: “Middle-class parents typically do not realize that their schools are failing to adequately prepare their children for an age of global competition. Our findings suggest this middle-class complacency is unjustified and should be challenged.”

At Republic Academy, our reading standard is that of the founding era of this country. In order to achieve this, we have an intensive phonetic reading, writing, and spelling program lasting from Kindergarten through fourth grade.

Terri Walker, administrator at the Republic Academy, Duncan.

For more information, please call 580-736-0100 or see the website at www.RepublicAcademy.com