For the past fifty years a great debate has been raging among
educators over how to teach children to read. Lately the debate
has degenerated into a tug of war between the advocates of
intensive phonics and the advocates of whole language. The
education establishment prefers whole language, while most
parents and some teachers prefer a phonetic approach. A very
concise and accurate description of the essential elements of
that debate was given by a writer in Collier's magazine in 1954
as follows: Two basic teaching methods are in conflict here. One
is the phonetic approach (known as phonics) . . . [in which]
youngsters try to sound out letters and syllables. The other
method . . . is the word-memory plan -- also known as "sight
reading," "total word configuration" or "word recognition." It
has the more friendly nickname of "look and say," since the
youngster is supposed simply to look at a word and say it right
out. He memorizes the "shape" of the word, the configuration,
and identifies it with pictures in hi