Off topic----Beware Of The Phonics Conspiracy

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This is just too good not to pass on!

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>Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 15:10:44 -0500

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>From: Eagle Forum <eagle@...>

>Subject: Beware Of The Phonics Conspiracy

>

> Beware Of The Phonics Conspiracy

>

>August 18, 1999 by: Phyllis Schlafly

>

>When Hillary Rodham Clinton charged that Bill Clinton's

>impeachment was caused by a " vast right-wing conspiracy, " she

>displayed the typical paranoia of liberals. It's not just Watergate and

>Iran-Contra that nurture their faith in plots; liberals think conspiracies

>against them are lurking behind every bend in the road.

>

>This attitude is not just acquired by reading fundraisers from People

>for the American Way (who live in perpetual fear of parental

> " censorship " over their children's books and videos). The existence of

>vast right-wing conspiracies is actually being taught in the teachers

>colleges.

>

>A " reentry woman " (that's the jargon to describe a woman who has

>reentered college after having been in the real world for some years)

>just sent me a textbook currently used in a state university in New

>York to teach aspiring teachers how to teach Whole Language to

>elementary school students. Whole Language means teaching

>children to guess at words from the pictures or the context, to skip

>over words the child doesn't know, and to substitute words that seem

>to fit.

>

>The textbook includes a chapter warning teachers against a " Far

>Right " conspiracy of " laypersons " to teach phonics, i.e., sounding

>out the syllables of the English language. The textbook identifies

>yours truly as a co-conspirator, along with the Heritage Foundation,

>the highly-advertised Hooked on Phonics, Norma and Mel Gabler, Dr.

> Simonds, scholar Sam Blumenfeld, W. Sweet of the

>National Right to Read Foundation, Pat on, the Reverend

>Jerry Falwell, and U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch and Helms.

>

>If this were merely the wild-eyed rantings of some leftwing activist, it

>wouldn't be worth a comment. But all this is from an actual

>teachers-college textbook, " Reading Process and Practice, From

>Socio-Psycholinguistics to Whole Language " by Constance Weaver

>(1994).

>

>The textbook warns that the " Far Right " urges that children be taught

> " a lot of phonics " and even phonics " first, before giving children the

>opportunity to read real literature -- or even sentences! " Italics,

>capitalization and exclamation points emphasize these ominous

>accusations.

>

>The textbook author is shocked, shocked that children might be

>taught to sound out words before they are given whole sentences.

>The truth is that thrusting complete sentences or books on children

>before they are taught to sound out words is equivalent to putting

>children on a football or a tennis team before they are taught how to

>play the game.

>

>Next, the textbook probes into the motive of the Far Right in

>advocating phonics, dismissing the thought that it could possibly be

>anything so sincere as wanting all children to be good readers. We

>now see the paranoia of the conspiracy-minded leftwingers in full

>flower.

>

>According to this textbook used to teach teachers, the " hidden

>agenda " of phonics-advocating Far Righters is " to promote a religious

>agenda. " They supposedly advocate phonics so that children will get

>all the words " right " and thereby be able to read all the words in the

>Bible instead of guessing at some of them.

>

>According to this textbook, teaching intensive phonics is a Far Right

>plot to keep children " from reading or thinking for themselves. " It

>appears not to have occurred to the textbook author that, if children

>are such good readers that they can read all those big words in the

>Bible, they will have the ability to read the classics of Western

>civilization, too.

>

>Undeterred by common sense, the textbook plows ahead with its

>fantasy about a Far Right plot. The book alleges that another, even

>more devious, motive of Far Right phonics advocates is to promote

> " docility and obedience on the part of the lower classes, " and thereby

> " maintain the socioeconomic status quo " and preserve

> " socioeconomic stratification. "

>

>The textbook proudly includes an illustration of the work of a first

>grader taught by the Whole Language method: " 1. RAET MY NAM.

>2. RAET THE DAET. " The other words are even more unintelligible.

>

>The fact is that nothing, nothing at all, has done more to prevent the

> " lower classes " from rising above their " socioeconomic stratification "

>than the failure to teach them how to read. Illiteracy is the systemic

>disease of the unemployed, the welfare class, and the prison

>population, all those pathetic thousands of Americans who, despite

>having attended public schools, are unable to " write my name " or

> " write the date. "

>

>A recent three-line headline in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

>screamed: " A third of our secondary school students are behind in

>their reading. What should the region's citizens do? "

>

>My answer is, scrap the failed method called Whole Language, and

>instead teach children how to read by the proven phonics method so

>they will be able to realize the American dream. But the schools

>aren't going to do that because their teachers are brainwashed into

>believing that phonics is a Far Right religious and political

>conspiracy. How sad.

>

> Phyllis Schlafly column 8-18-99

>

>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

>This column may also be found at:

>http://www.eagleforum.org/column/1999/aug99/99-08-18.html

>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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