WHY JOHNNY CAN'T READ

Phonics Is the Answer

In 1955 Rudolf Flesch published his influential work, Why Johnny Can't Read and What You Can Do About It. He discussed the reading problems of the nation's children and how television had a negative effect on reading ability. Television programs brought about memorization through word associations and promoted learning through pictures—not true reading ability. The answer, according to Flesch, was phonics. Phonetic practice enabled students to sound out words unfamiliar to them, and although comprehension came later through experience, phonics would make good readers.

Sight Reading

The debate between proponents of phonics and sight reading, or recognizing words by sight, did not begin with Flesch. In 1954 Collier's ran a six-part study of education entitled "The Struggle for Our Children's Minds," which included a look at phonics. Parents complained that sight reading led to the misunderstanding of words. For example, children would see a scene with a word underneath it and assume it only meant one thing: meadow would be read as pasture. On the other hand, sight reading was fun and effective, adherents argued. The debate over how to teach reading would continue throughout the decade without resolution.

SEUSS ON THE LOOSE

As educators debated the root of poor reading, Theodore S. Geisel, known to millions of children as Dr. Seuss, set out to change the nature of children's books. Starting with The Cat in the Hat and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas in 1957, he made reading and learning through whimsical rhyme fun and enjoyable. Over the next three decades over eighty-eight books in the Dr. Seuss series would be included in The Cat in the Hat library, and millions of children would learn how to read from Dr. Seuss.

Source:

Rudolf Flesch, Why Johnny Can't Read and What You Can Do About It (New York: Harper, 1955).