KINDER'S COMMENTARY: WHOLE-LANGUAGE READING SCRAPPED IN CALIFORNIA

Stoddard County parent of four told me recently that his boy, a first grader, literally won't learn to read unless he learns at home. You see, his school, having repudiated phonics, a proven method of teaching reading, teaches a fad called "whole language." Here's a transcript of a news report:

"Educators in California are on the defensive because of their use of an experimental approach to teaching reading. Reports issued by a state task force say educators must return to teaching basic reading skills or risk producing a generation of children unprepared for the reading world. Virginia Biggar reports:

"Yesterday's report was prompted by news of California's poor performance when it comes to reading. The state ranked last out of 40 states participating in a recent national survey of reading scores. The task force was appointed by the state education commissioner and is composed of teachers, administrators, parents and business leaders. Their report labels the current approach a failure, and it says the way reading is taught at all levels must be drastically revised.

"The criticism focuses on a method of teaching reading known as the whole-language approach. It teaches recognition of whole words, not individual letters and syllables, and holds that children learn to read in the process of normal reading activity as long as the material is rich and meaningful. In its most extreme form it can mean handing a child a book and simply instructing the child to read. The report maintains this has often been to the exclusion of things like phonics -- learning to read by sounding out parts of a word, and spelling, as well as other basic skills that should be a part of a comprehensive reading program.

"San Diego businessman William Lynch is co-chair of the 27-member task force. Mr. Lynch:

"`We emphasize that such a program employs both copious usage of meaningful texts and skills instruction. It isn't one or the other.'

Virginia Biggar, again: "Beginning with a strongly worded reminder that reading makes all other learning possible, the task force recommends that California children spend at least half their days on reading and language through third grade. It also says children must be read to from an early age and that teachers need better training before they land in the classroom. The so-called whole-language approach became widely used in California in 1987 as the result of new guidelines set by the state for teaching language arts. While the framers of that document now say they never meant to eliminate skills instruction, others say that's effectively what happened.

"Deborah Stipek is a specialist in elementary education with UCLA's School of Education. Ms. Stipek:

"It became very politically correct to have a whole-language approach. Just the notion of teaching phonics became very unpopular and you simply didn't go to a teachers' conference and say to the teacher next to you, `I teach phonics,' because it simply wasn't in.

"Miriam Chaplain, of the National Council of Teachers of English. Ms. Chaplain:

"We believe there are many different approaches to the teaching of reading and many of them are valid, but we don't recommend that teachers use one approach exclusively to the exclusion of others. Every approach doesn't work all of the time with every learner.

"Virginia Biggar: California's chief public education official says she'll begin implementing the recommendations immediately. ..."

California is the nation's largest purchaser of textbooks. Could this be an early sign of a move back toward sanity? What a shame to lose 10 years of children to a fad!

~Peter Kinder is the associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.