that teaches children to guess at words by looking at pictures on a page, memorizing a few words, and skipping over words that are not familiar. A familiar form of the whole language approach is illustrated in the books of “Dick and Jane” by publisher Scott Foresman (Chall, 1983). These books were brought about by the publisher sending out slick salesman to every school district to demonstrate how easily children could be taught to read through Dick and Jane (Chall, 1983). These stories had color pictures of Dick, Jane, and Spot (the dog) doing whatever the one-syllable word described. Look and Say dominated the school system as a result of a strategic marketing plan carried out by the publisher (Schafely, 1996).Time for a Change?The school systems have had educational backgrounds molded after whole language, and its time for a phonics approach. It is now more crucial than ever for a change in the system. It would be impossible to expect the educational system to completely change the way children are learning to read, but the system must make small, quick changes over a short period of time to encompass the use of the phonics approach. Not all children have the same learning capabilities, and that is one of the main arguments against phonics. Many people in opposition say that not all children can learn from the phonics approach. What people opposed to phonics do not understand is that phonics can be incorporated into the learning process along with whole language to ensure a balance and complete understanding of the English language (Unkown, 1994). With whole language as the basis to the learning process, I believe that the schools are giving out good grade cards to children who are good at guessing and memorizing words. With this in place, parents don’t realize that their children are being taught to guess instead of learning to read properly. It seems as though the schools have placed more priority on s...
