Hi Susan,



I have even read that even some motion picture titles have been changed to accomodate the 1500 word vocabulary and historical knowledge failings.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Canada: English title) (International: English title) (UK)
Harry Potter (USA) (working title)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (USA) (Whats a philosopher? Hmm maybe even the public school educator would have a tough time answering this one. )

The Madness of King George III (UK)
The Madness of King George (US) (distributors thought that no-one would want to watch the film having missed the first two )

I actually agree with every thing you have said about the use of the phonic method rather than the look-&-say methods. The ability to decode the written word almost always requires a phonic approach together with its use within a social vocabulary (its common use within the family, associates and contemporaries). Even the Oxford English Dictionary has entries beside each word using the internationally known method of phonic pronunciations. Comprehension of the individual word just requires access to a dictionary together with the ability to understand its grammatical use within a sentence. Word and sentence comprehension also requires a formal understanding of the use of verbs, adverbs, nouns and the understanding of the use of full stops, quotations marks, semicolons etc. Without a solid understanding of the primary spoken and written language skills, progress on to more advanced English literature will be almost impossible. This is where reading and writing stops becoming a chore and starts becoming an enjoyment for students.

Does the US education system have a set of age related basic standard requirements? Is there a safety net such as remedial action one to one teaching for those unfortunate students who have failed to meet the grade. The idea that a 12-14 years old student who cannot read and has been able to pass through an educational system up till this point is quite shocking.

Also what formal texts are required reading? (this is where the philosphical analysis and political discussion etc start to enter the fray)

Some required reading (English Literature) when I was at School,

1984,
To Kill a MockingBird,
Hamlet,
Lord of the Flies,
MacBeth,
The Merchant of Venice,
A Midsummer Night's Dream,
Romeo and Juliet,
Death of a Salesman,
The Catcher in the Rye,
Gregory's Girl.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Brave New World.
The Time Machine

BTW my friends 12 year old daughter is currently reading Homer's epic Odysseus in her first year at her state run Secondary School. Even I thought this was a bit of tough read for a 12 year old. But then its nice to know that standards haven't dropped since I was at School.