Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Phonics and boomer-nomics
In April 2004, 26 Australians – mainly psychology academics – signed this letter (the five other signatories are here) (both PDF) to education Minster Dr Brendan Nelson, regarding the “phonics” vs “whole language” approaches to teaching reading. At the risk of over-simplifying the positions here, the former is the more traditional approach, while the latter has predominated in Australia for about the last 35 to 40 years*.
A natural first question here is that, if “whole language” has been so disastrous for Australian literacy, why has it taken four decades for a public fuss to emerge about it?
A fair question, indeed – and one for which this is no possible logical answer, other than sheer boomer hegemony; aka “We are going to spend out twilight working years fighting as rebels without a cause. Specifically, fighting an education system (which we both built and occupy all the top roles within, but never mind that) that teaches reading a little bit differently than the way we were taught, pre-1970. The nerve!”.
This would be funny if it wasn’t (i) so symptomatic of broader social trends (mass boomer scorching of the commons to bare earth as they retreat into retirement), and (ii) draining of the public purse. The expense I’m referring to here it not simply the recently-announced government inquiry – with its foregone conclusion – but the rich irony (itself a boomer-trademark, of course) of every one of the 26 above-mentioned signatories** having their windmill-tilting dissent funded by the Australian Research Council Networks (= the taxpayer).
To summarise my position, then. ARCN funding has (inadvertently, I assume) fomented a storm in a teacup, which is so for a least three reasons. First and foremost, GenX has, AFAICT, entirely passed through “whole language” primary schools, and well into adulthood without a whisper of concern from anybody, then or now. Secondly, boomers have been in charge for more than long enough to now make suspect their motives, as to “whole language” teaching having recently been discovered to be inadequate. Finally, the dissenters’ real motives seem plain enough: a research-grant carrot (which must have seemed all the sweeter knowing how scarce absolute research funds are (= suck eggs, rival GenX applicants!)), combined with a more general, pathological imperative to sabotage all remaining public goods while boomers still control the levers of power.
As a sidenote, there is this intriguing letter to the editor by Dr Marion de Lemos, one of the 26 above-mentioned signatories (and thus an ARCN funding recipient) who, judging by this October 2004 biographical note having her as “retired”, seems likely to have found her slice of the ARCN funding usefully spent around her home in Melbourne’s leafy Hawthorn East.
Marion writes:
I would like to make it clear that the signatories to the letter were not calling for a return to an old-fashioned method of teaching based on phonics, but for an approach to teaching based on the scientific evidence as to how children learn to read, and what strategies are most effective in teaching them.
Oh, the scientific evidence, that’s right. If teaching-training departments are really instilling something that is not based on scientific evidence (e.g. a flat-earth), shouldn’t Marion be a teensy bit more concerned? Not to mention a teensy bit more responsible? I mean, what has she been doing for the last 30 years, since she donned the tie-dye caftan in June 1968, to advocate that Australian pre-school teachers take up Maria Montessori's (paleo-hippy) teaching methods?
My, how the worm turns. Australia’s education landscape in 2004 is a simple binary: no private school student should apparently be without his/her own polo field, while the public school system is there only to be systemically undermined.
* Annabelle McDonald “Shop’s phonics classes fill in the gap” The Australian 10 November 2004, quoting Sydney early-learning centre operator Rogan Caroll.
** There are 49 ARCN funding recipients listed here. Of the 23 who were not also signatories to the above-mentioned letter, the majority are non-Australian based. For ease of reference, here is the list of 49, in alphabetical order, with the names of the 26 signatories (all Australians) in bold:
Professor Vicki Anderson, Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne VIC
Dr Timothy Bates, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Professor Dorothy Bishop, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University
Dr Caroline Bowen, Speech Language Pathologist, NSW
Associate Professor Judy Bowey, School of Psychology, University of Queensland QLD
Dr Lesley Bretherton, Department of Psychology, Royal Children’s Hospital VIC
Ruth Brunsdon, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Professor Brian Byrne, Department of Psychology, University of New England NSW
Dr Anne Castles, Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne VIC
Professor Max Coltheart, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University
NSW
Associate Professor Veronika Coltheart, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Dr Linda Cupples, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University NSW
Dr Molly [Marion] De Lemos, Honorary Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) VIC
Bernice Dodds, Learning Difficulty Centre, Royal Children's Hospital VIC
Dr Ruth Fielding-Barnsley, School of Learning and Professional Studies, Queensland University of Technology QLD
Dr Jan Fletcher, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia WA
Dr Claire Fletcher-Flinn, Department of Psychology, University of Auckland
Professor Uta Frith, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience & Dept. Psychology, University College London
Dr Steve Heath, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia WA
Dr Kerry Hempenstall, Psychology & Disability Studies, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology VIC
Dr John Hogben, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia WA
Associate Professor Virginia Holmes, Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne VIC
Dr Teresa Iacono, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University VIC
Dr Pam Joy, Child Development Unit, The New Children's Hospital NSW
Coral Kemp, Macquarie University Special Education Centre, Macquarie University NSW
Saskia Kohnen, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Associate Professor Bruce Knight, Faculty of Education & Creative Arts, University of Central Queensland QLD
Dr Suze Leitão, School of Psychology, Curtin University of Technology WA
Dr Michelle Luciano, Genetic Epidemiology, Queensland Institute of Medical Research QLD
Dr Genevieve McArthur, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Ken McAnally, Air Operations Division, Defence Science and Technology Organisation VIC
Dr Frances Martin, School of Psychology, University of Tasmania TAS
Professor Nick Martin, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Queensland QLD
Dr Kate Nation, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University
Dr Roslyn Neilson, Language, Speech and Literacy Services, NSW
Professor Philip Newall, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University NSW
Professor Tom Nicholson School of Education, University of Auckland
Dr Lyndsey Nickels, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Dr Kristen Pammer, School of Psychology, The Australian National University ACT
Professor Margot Prior, Department of Psychology, The University of Melbourne VIC
Dr Linda Siegel, Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology and Special Education, University of British Columbia
Dr Karen Smith-Lock, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University NSW
Dr Ian Smythe, World Dyslexia Network Foundation,
Dr Rhonda Strainthorp, Institute of Education, University of London
Dr Morag Stuart, Institute of Education, University of London
Dr Geoff Stuart, Neuroimaging and Informatics, The University of Melbourne VIC
Dr Brian Thompson, School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor Kevin Wheldall, Macquarie University Special Education Centre, Macquarie University NSW
In April 2004, 26 Australians – mainly psychology academics – signed this letter (the five other signatories are here) (both PDF) to education Minster Dr Brendan Nelson, regarding the “phonics” vs “whole language” approaches to teaching reading. At the risk of over-simplifying the positions here, the former is the more traditional approach, while the latter has predominated in Australia for about the last 35 to 40 years*.
A natural first question here is that, if “whole language” has been so disastrous for Australian literacy, why has it taken four decades for a public fuss to emerge about it?
A fair question, indeed – and one for which this is no possible logical answer, other than sheer boomer hegemony; aka “We are going to spend out twilight working years fighting as rebels without a cause. Specifically, fighting an education system (which we both built and occupy all the top roles within, but never mind that) that teaches reading a little bit differently than the way we were taught, pre-1970. The nerve!”.
This would be funny if it wasn’t (i) so symptomatic of broader social trends (mass boomer scorching of the commons to bare earth as they retreat into retirement), and (ii) draining of the public purse. The expense I’m referring to here it not simply the recently-announced government inquiry – with its foregone conclusion – but the rich irony (itself a boomer-trademark, of course) of every one of the 26 above-mentioned signatories** having their windmill-tilting dissent funded by the Australian Research Council Networks (= the taxpayer).
To summarise my position, then. ARCN funding has (inadvertently, I assume) fomented a storm in a teacup, which is so for a least three reasons. First and foremost, GenX has, AFAICT, entirely passed through “whole language” primary schools, and well into adulthood without a whisper of concern from anybody, then or now. Secondly, boomers have been in charge for more than long enough to now make suspect their motives, as to “whole language” teaching having recently been discovered to be inadequate. Finally, the dissenters’ real motives seem plain enough: a research-grant carrot (which must have seemed all the sweeter knowing how scarce absolute research funds are (= suck eggs, rival GenX applicants!)), combined with a more general, pathological imperative to sabotage all remaining public goods while boomers still control the levers of power.
As a sidenote, there is this intriguing letter to the editor by Dr Marion de Lemos, one of the 26 above-mentioned signatories (and thus an ARCN funding recipient) who, judging by this October 2004 biographical note having her as “retired”, seems likely to have found her slice of the ARCN funding usefully spent around her home in Melbourne’s leafy Hawthorn East.
Marion writes:
I would like to make it clear that the signatories to the letter were not calling for a return to an old-fashioned method of teaching based on phonics, but for an approach to teaching based on the scientific evidence as to how children learn to read, and what strategies are most effective in teaching them.
Oh, the scientific evidence, that’s right. If teaching-training departments are really instilling something that is not based on scientific evidence (e.g. a flat-earth), shouldn’t Marion be a teensy bit more concerned? Not to mention a teensy bit more responsible? I mean, what has she been doing for the last 30 years, since she donned the tie-dye caftan in June 1968, to advocate that Australian pre-school teachers take up Maria Montessori's (paleo-hippy) teaching methods?
My, how the worm turns. Australia’s education landscape in 2004 is a simple binary: no private school student should apparently be without his/her own polo field, while the public school system is there only to be systemically undermined.
* Annabelle McDonald “Shop’s phonics classes fill in the gap” The Australian 10 November 2004, quoting Sydney early-learning centre operator Rogan Caroll.
** There are 49 ARCN funding recipients listed here. Of the 23 who were not also signatories to the above-mentioned letter, the majority are non-Australian based. For ease of reference, here is the list of 49, in alphabetical order, with the names of the 26 signatories (all Australians) in bold:
Professor Vicki Anderson, Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne VIC
Dr Timothy Bates, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Professor Dorothy Bishop, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University
Dr Caroline Bowen, Speech Language Pathologist, NSW
Associate Professor Judy Bowey, School of Psychology, University of Queensland QLD
Dr Lesley Bretherton, Department of Psychology, Royal Children’s Hospital VIC
Ruth Brunsdon, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Professor Brian Byrne, Department of Psychology, University of New England NSW
Dr Anne Castles, Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne VIC
Professor Max Coltheart, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University
NSW
Associate Professor Veronika Coltheart, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Dr Linda Cupples, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University NSW
Dr Molly [Marion] De Lemos, Honorary Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) VIC
Bernice Dodds, Learning Difficulty Centre, Royal Children's Hospital VIC
Dr Ruth Fielding-Barnsley, School of Learning and Professional Studies, Queensland University of Technology QLD
Dr Jan Fletcher, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia WA
Dr Claire Fletcher-Flinn, Department of Psychology, University of Auckland
Professor Uta Frith, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience & Dept. Psychology, University College London
Dr Steve Heath, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia WA
Dr Kerry Hempenstall, Psychology & Disability Studies, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology VIC
Dr John Hogben, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia WA
Associate Professor Virginia Holmes, Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne VIC
Dr Teresa Iacono, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University VIC
Dr Pam Joy, Child Development Unit, The New Children's Hospital NSW
Coral Kemp, Macquarie University Special Education Centre, Macquarie University NSW
Saskia Kohnen, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Associate Professor Bruce Knight, Faculty of Education & Creative Arts, University of Central Queensland QLD
Dr Suze Leitão, School of Psychology, Curtin University of Technology WA
Dr Michelle Luciano, Genetic Epidemiology, Queensland Institute of Medical Research QLD
Dr Genevieve McArthur, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Ken McAnally, Air Operations Division, Defence Science and Technology Organisation VIC
Dr Frances Martin, School of Psychology, University of Tasmania TAS
Professor Nick Martin, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Queensland QLD
Dr Kate Nation, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University
Dr Roslyn Neilson, Language, Speech and Literacy Services, NSW
Professor Philip Newall, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University NSW
Professor Tom Nicholson School of Education, University of Auckland
Dr Lyndsey Nickels, MACCS, Macquarie University NSW
Dr Kristen Pammer, School of Psychology, The Australian National University ACT
Professor Margot Prior, Department of Psychology, The University of Melbourne VIC
Dr Linda Siegel, Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology and Special Education, University of British Columbia
Dr Karen Smith-Lock, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University NSW
Dr Ian Smythe, World Dyslexia Network Foundation,
Dr Rhonda Strainthorp, Institute of Education, University of London
Dr Morag Stuart, Institute of Education, University of London
Dr Geoff Stuart, Neuroimaging and Informatics, The University of Melbourne VIC
Dr Brian Thompson, School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor Kevin Wheldall, Macquarie University Special Education Centre, Macquarie University NSW
