Look-See Method Of Reading

Poor Results

They say the proof is in the pudding, and as a result of the look-see method (also known as look say) our kids rank near the bottom of testing in math and science internationally. There is also some evidence that learning disorders are created by poor and faulty reading methods. Even those who can read or write lack an in depth vocabulary and stylistic skills.

Also educational institutions have actually lowered the standards and thus the quality in schools, but school taxes and budgets continue to rise. A friend of mine who taught college for many years once had four members of the men’s Division 1 basketball team in his political science class at a major US university, and not one of them could read or write. I realize there are other factors involved here concerning major college sports, but this is totally ridiculous.

This is truly a model of insanity when looked at and understood for what it is. The upside is that educators, parents and students have the ability and power to change things around and restore quality teaching.

Phonics

The curious thing is that phonics has been used successfully in Europe and the United States for many years. With phonics children have the tools to expand their vocabulary. Being at the heart of education, reading is the basic skill upon which others are built.

With phonics the child learns to sound out basic word sounds of the English language. There are actually less than 50 to learn. Once the system is learned, it is relatively simple to sound out every new word encountered. This is a skill that stays with the child his or her entire life.

Repetition is also used, which allows the child to become familiar with words and recognize them. Gradually the shape of the word and letters are associated with the sound and meaning of the word. This is not based upon memorization.

Literacy Takes A Nosedive

There have been drastic declines in literacy with historic lows in verbal SAT scores. There are now tens of millions of functionally illiterate folks in America. Modern psychological theories receive major endorsements, while utterly failing to educate.

The phonetic method teaches kids to sound out words, and had been used for generations. In the mid 1950’s a book by Rudolf Flesch called Why Johnny Can’t Read warned against faddish types of reading methods such as the look see method. Look-see (or say) was developed in 1810 by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet specifically for deaf mutes, and was not intended for the general population. He founded the Hartford School for Deaf in 1817. Quite plainly look see or say disables effective learning.

In 1835 Mother's Primer was published, and the Massachusetts Primary School Committee under Horace Mann immediately adopted the book on an experimental basis. By 1840 there was a backlash, and the look-see/say system was dropped in Massachusetts. But it was revived toward the end of the 19th century, and is still with us today.

Why did Horace Mann push a method designed for deaf mutes onto a school system populated with persons who were not deaf mutes?

It has been suggested that he never had a proper education, and thus was unable to properly judge a good reading method. Mann's teacher was Samuel Barratt who said: "in arithmetic he was an idiot. He could not recite the multiplication table and could not tell the time of day by the clock ... "

Also in 1853 Mann was appointed President of Antioch College, and it is suggested that he wanted to please one of his most influential trustees.

True Cause Of Learning Disabilities

The Look-See method not only subverts reading ability, but has been known to cause reading disabilities. Dyslexia and other reading challenges have been traced back to look see. It gets even crazier when these reading difficulties are diagnosed as having physical, biological or genetic causes, and then people are treated with drugs. This further exacerbates the problem because the drugs interfere with cognitive functioning because of cloudy thinking and the suppression of emotions.

The defect is not in the child, but in the teaching methods. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not a learning disability that is the problem. Regardless of the specific reasons that all of this has occurred, the important factor now is to make some positive changes. Combining phonics at home with what children learn in school is a very good option. It is time to reverse what the educational establishment has done, and return the relatively simple task of learning to read into a much less complex system.

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