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- Xref: sparky sci.math:14509 sci.physics:18285 sci.astro:11708 sci.bio:4045 sci.chem:4443 misc.education:4161
- Newsgroups: sci.math,sci.physics,sci.astro,sci.bio,sci.chem,misc.education
- Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!ames!nsisrv!gemini!dsc
- From: dsc@gemini.tmc.edu (Doug S. Caprette Bldg. 28 W191 x3892)
- Subject: Re: Is Math Hard?
- Message-ID: <1992Nov6.160758.17862@nsisrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>
- Sender: usenet@nsisrv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Usenet)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: gemini.gsfc.nasa.gov
- Organization: NASA GSFC CDP VLBI
- References: <1992Nov4.044300.15766@cbfsb.cb.att.com> <Bx79Lo.LG1@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> <1992Nov5.180244.27364@athena.mit.edu> <Bx9uy1.LB0@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
- Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:07:58 GMT
- Lines: 30
-
- In article <Bx9uy1.LB0@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> hrubin@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
- >In article <1992Nov5.180244.27364@athena.mit.edu> jamess@athena.mit.edu (John A Mess) writes:
- >>....
- >> This was a very common problem in the 60's and 70's when public educa-
- >>tors wanted to "modernize" the process. The idea of teaching reading by
- >>using phonetic symbols, by leaving out words, and other garbage was often
- >>*forced* on public teachers from above.
- >
- >This happened partly, but you have the whole thing wrong. Before the 40's
- >reading was ALWAYS taught that way. It was the educationists and school
-
- I think you guys are comparing apples and oranges. I learned to read and
- write c1960 in a Parochial school using Phonics, which I understand was the
- normal method used by Public Schools earlier in the century. In Phonics, one
- learns to pronounce the words as written in normal English using the Latin
- alphabet.
-
- Phonetics, which a friend of mine had in a Public Scool at the same time
- was a method in which the children were taught to read and write using a
- spoecialized alphabet of symbols recently invented for just that purpose.
- I gather that they were supposed to later learn written English by translation.
-
- This method seems to have been soon abandoned. One obvious drawback is that
- it restricts early reading to literature specially prepared for the students
- taught by this method.
-
- There seems to be some effort being expended to move back to phonics, (Not
- Phonetics). The original studies which supported the switch to the 'look
- see' methods have been largely discredited.
-
-