Fighting Words

SUDDENLY, everyone’s hooked on phonics. After the reading scores of California students dropped precipitously, a bipartisan majority of the state legislature voted to mandate that teachers be trained in phonics. In Texas, the other key state for influencing textbook publishers, Gov. George W. Bush pushed through a similar law. Massachusetts, too, now mandates phonics instruction in every public school. Pro- phonics bills are pending in many other states as well, and phonics products are selling briskly. Two major recent reports—one by a division of the National Academy of Sciences, the other by the Learning First Alliance, which includes the top two teachers’ unions and the national PTA—recommend phonics instruction.

The triumph of phonics would be great news, if only it were true. The news accounts may give the impression of triumph, but parents need to read between the lines.

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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SUDDENLY, everyone’s hooked on phonics. After the reading scores of California students dropped precipitously, a bipartisan majority of the state legislature voted to mandate that teachers be trained in phonics. In Texas, the other key state for influencing textbook publishers, Gov. George W. Bush pushed through a similar law. Massachusetts, too, now mandates phonics instruction in every public school. Pro- phonics bills are pending in many other states as well, and phonics products are selling briskly. Two major recent reports—one by a division of the National Academy of Sciences, the other by the Learning First Alliance, which includes the top two teachers’ unions and the national PTA—recommend phonics instruction.

The triumph of phonics would be great news, if only it were true. The news accounts may give the impression of triumph, but parents need to read between the lines.