Half of Americans can’t read

Not sure what your age group is and where this was, but back in the 1950s when I was in primary and lower secondary school in industrial east Lancashire, only the top class out of four in the local grammar school I was at learned Latin starting in Form 2. I loved French and Latin and know what you mean about them helping with etymology, as did the German I started to learn in the fourth form.

"And yes I don’t really believe it either!"

I think that what the studies have said isn't that Americans can't read, but rather that many of them are not reading at the expected level for the number of years of education.

So, for example, there was a report at the start of the year that said that for US children in their equivalent of our Year 5 (4th Grade), 69% were not at the level that was expected for a pupil in Year 5. Also that 40% were severely below the expected standard and could not recognise basic narrative context.

Then by the time of Year 13 (US 12th Grade) 65% were not up to the expected standard.

This does not mean, in any way at all, that they cannot read. This means that many of them are way below the expected level for their age.

This is also me.
I have realized that I read in a way that is similar to predictive text, it means I'm actually a very fast reader.
I was also successful in English as a subject so I haven't found any downsides for me personally.

You think? When was this? Latin wasn't even available at my state secondary. Primary - not a chance. The only people I know who did Latin went to private schools or grammar schools. This was in the 70s.

And quite a lot of others are from Greek. I’m very fond of etymology - the words originating in Latin have often come via French rather than directly so maybe learning that works as well and is more useful on holiday?

This is silly, there's nothing wrong with learning to read through whole words, it's how people have been doing it for generations . I never learned phonics, I can definitely read I assure you 😂

Having lived in the US and having quite a few American family members, I would say that yes, their standards of literacy are quite poor in general compared to the UK.

I'm also an examiner for a few international qualifications in English and I can often tell when a paper is from an American candidate (the papers are anonymised so I have no info about who/where/which school or country). In addition to the much lower standard of English, there is often also a glaring lack of knowledge about geography of the world, combined with a staggering (given the other low level standards) arrogance about whatever the topic is they're supposed to be writing about.

I have successfully blocked out most of my childhood memories but funnily enough I can quite clearly conjure up the pictures of me sitting in class as a 5 year old and the learning to read lessons. Probably because I was terrified I wouldn't be able to ever learn to read. This was nearly 70 years ago and I can remember the pressure I felt. Partly because as the youngest of 3 the expectations on me to follow in my siblings footsteps was immense.

In the event I was fine and generally had a reading age assessed as exceptionally good for my age. But I don't think I've ever taken the ability to read for granted. It still fills me with a certain awe that I can actually translate these funny scrawlings into words that actually mean something.

My child is learning phonics and sight words. I’m hoping one will help if the other doesn’t!

I don't know how I was taught to read. But I went to montessori pre school at about 4, and my DM assured me that I read fairly fluently six months later. By the time I changed school, at six, to a standard primary school in west Cornwall, my reading age was about eight.

Hooked on Phonics worked for me! 🤦🏻‍♀️😉

I've listened to this podcast and it's depressing AF. Like previous OPs I also think no child left behind is part of the issue here.

The author of this article was Richard Littlejohn. It was published in 2012.

I did mention that " I'm not in any way endorsing the attitudes of this columnist,"

Agreed. My dd is dyslexic. We only found out 6 months ago in year 13. She got on ok with phonics. But she also is better at whole word recognition. Interesting. I never learned phonics. But can’t see it would have been of much use to me. I could read a newspaper age 3. I’m sure I didn’t understand the articles though.

I went to an American school in the 80s and they were obsessed with phonics. My older brother had been taught to read in the UK and didn't do any phonics. So I don't think they were behind us. He was an excellent reader and speller though.

Phonics is only one tool in learning to read and doesn't work for everyone.

I’ve got two nephews who live in NYC who are the same age as my daughters and when they were little I was always shocked at their inability to read. They used the whole word method and were pretty much guessing. My dh, who grew up there doesn’t know any of the lower case letters or sounds and says loads of sounds incorrectly because he says that they are the same. . Most notably ‘th’ and ‘t’. When our dc were learning to read he really struggled with phonics despite being clever and wanting to be involved.

Phonics doesn't suit every child. My eldest DD is quite dyslexic and had a nightmare with phonics. I was taught to read using whole word/flashcards very quickly and I suspect phonics wouldn't have been as effective for me.

Agreed. School in mid 70s onwards. It’s my mother’s generation, who learned Latin.

I did Latin at school for O Level. Comprehensive school.

Didn’t learn to read via phonics either but whole word. I remember one day it just clicked and I could read.

I learned using ITA back in the 70's so its a wonder any Gen X who were taught with that learned to read anything at all! Bascially we had to learn twice.

I can still read ITA though, I think its a skill you never lose!

just like there are different ways of learning maths, i see some super cool abacus type tricks on you tube of kids adding up and multiplying with fast finger twitching called ANZAN, there are different ways of learning how to read.
whole word was popular and common in the 80's, and even now memorizing the 100 "common words" encouraged in most schools is an example of whole word.
the average reading age of most american adults is between 12-14, the average reading age of most UK citizens is estimated (google work here) to be between the age of 9-11 (i'm actually shocked by this).
reading is multi step and involved several physical and cognitive skills, reading is NOT the same as comprehension.
if you are interested in the topic there's lots of info out there.
phonics is fine, it's not the be all end all, and it's not for everyone. even having learned phonics it doesn't help you know what an unfamiliar word means (people still need dictionaries) and it doesn't help with reading complex topics.

I'm also having childhood flashbacks to those Hooked on Phonics ads.

The issue with these sorts of things - or answering if America has fixed it - is it treats the US education as if it's a unified whole when nothing could be farther from the truth. Not only does each state have its own rules, so can each county, each city and town, each school district, each school within the same school district can have different rules from age cut offs and requirements to start through to requirements to graduate.

The different approaches are sometimes framed as political. I find people of any political leaning tend to prefer the approach they used or can be explained why the changes have been made. Phonics in some parts of the US is pinned as conservative in part because it's associated with certain centuries old Christian curriculums used back in the one room schoolhouse days, whereas in others, whole word is considered the conservative approach because that's the books they've been using for decades so phonics is treated as new/progressive. It isn't consistent.

It's more a follow the money situation. We've seen time and again individuals and groups with money getting into US schools and basically bribing them to do things their way -- and when in most states you have a system where school funding is based on local property taxes so poorer areas get less funding, you can see how those financial incentives happen even with the best of intentions. I mean, look at Bill Gates and how his love of the Big History idea changed how history was taught across many parts of the US, even with its poor results. Both whole word and modern phonics came in through groups selling programs to solve school issues both in academics and in budget.

IME, the UK has this issue, but to a far lesser extent at the school level compared to the US - the funding structures are very different. There is the issue in UK stats where literacy is defined based on years of formal education rather than actual literacy, I guess that's easier to track, so it's hard to say how we're really doing.

I can't remember how I was taught initially in much detail, though what I can recall was a mix of phonics and word chunks. I can remember studying etymology in English around word origins and the impact on spelling and how that can help show what the word means.

Me too, back in the 80's. The school did fancy itself though as it had been a Grammar until the system was stopped in our area.

I think a combination of phonics and whole word teaching (as there are so many irregular words in the English language) is best but with more emphasis on phonics at first. Early years phonics led reading books are very repetitive and boring because the words, which can be used, are limited.
The cat sat on the mat. - phonics led
The cat sat on the carpet, - more interesting and 'guessable', although the ar sound is taught quite early on so not the best example.
My father taught me to read a bit before I went to school using whole words written in capital letters ( a BIG no no) and it didn't do me any harm, as I soon adapted to the school system, but I expect it also depends on intelligence.
I took Latin to A level; it's such a big help in understanding the grammatical construction of sentences and the usage of correct tenses, it's a pity the teaching of it is dying out,
My pet hate at the moment is trying to stop my grandson saying 'brang' instead of brought..

I’m an American. Most schools here use an approach that combines phonics and whole word, with the mix varied by age and aptitude.

https://www.lexialearning.com/blog/the-science-of-reading-vs-balanced-literacy-the-history-of-the-reading-wars

My kids are in their mid 20s and this is how they were taught.

Your thread title is goady and offensive, by the way.

This. I learned this way and was reading at 3. I can definitely read.