Phonics Funding Draws Cheers, Jeers From Educators

A Wilson administration proposal that would change the way basic reading is taught in public schools drew mixed reactions from Ventura County educators Monday, some anxious to reemphasize fundamental skills, others urging a more balanced approach.

The proposal unveiled in Sacramento seeks to settle an age-old education debate on how best to teach children to read. Gov. Pete Wilson proposes directing about $127 million to stress phonics, spelling and other basic skills, rejecting the more modern “whole language” approach to reading instruction.

Ventura County Supt. of Schools Charles Weis said educators should include both approaches to reading instruction.

“There is tremendous amount of research that says different things,” Weis said. “All kids don’t learn to read the same way. A quality program should provide a variety of ways to teach how to read.”

But Simi Valley Unified School District trustee Norman Walker praised the move to return to fundamental skills and teaching practices, including phonics as well as rote memorization.

“We only get one chance with a child, we can’t go back and have him be 6 years old again,” Walker said. “We must teach our children how to read and we need to use what works to do that.”

Walker said he is not opposed to new techniques.

“But I am tired of educational experiments on our children and finding out they didn’t work 10 years down the line when the damage is already done,” he said. “It’s almost a crime against society.”

He called the whole language teaching method a “disaster” and a “fiasco.” Phonics emphasizes drills on letters, sounds and spelling of words, while whole language focuses on learning through reading.

Walker said learning can’t always be fun. It is sometimes necessary to use memorization and drills if that is a proven method that works.

“We’ve kind of sacrificed the short-term pain in rote memorization and given ourselves a lifetime failure rate,” he said. “If we can teach students to read there is almost no door they can’t unlock by themselves.”

Last year, state schools chief Delaine Eastin commissioned a reading task force to study the issue. The task force’s report emphasized a balanced approach that would include phonics within a whole language approach, said Val Rains, a Pleasant Valley Elementary School District trustee who sat on the panel.

“There have been areas in California that have abandoned phonics completely and adopted the whole language approach,” Rains said. “Good teachers will, hopefully, always present a balanced approach that will reach all children.”

Hal Vick, executive director of the Conejo Teachers Assn. in Thousand Oaks, said it would be unfortunate to emphasize one approach to the detriment of the other.

“Even in the whole language approach there hasn’t been an abandonment of phonics,” he said.

He said it is unfair to “pit one schools program against another.

“Clearly schools need money,” he said. “It’s unfortunate if he [Wilson] is going to rob Peter to pay Paul.”

Miguel Helft is a correspondent and Joanna M. Miller is a staff writer.

* MAIN STORY: A1