Lakeview School

If I remember correctly Lakeview School was built in 1929. The addition on this end was added before I went to school. When I started there as a war baby, the classes were extremely full.  It was so crowded that we had first grade only 1/2 day.  But we still learned to read.

I was hired directly out of college to teach first grade there.  My classes had about 42 children in them.  They all learned to read, except for one boy who really should have been sent to a special school, but whenever he took the IQ test, he had people there making sure he was on the right page, etc.  Without that help, I'm sure he would not have guessed enough right, but with the assistance, he  was able to stay right there.

My point though is this.  The school was old. We didn't have any of the frills kids have today. Classes were overcrowded, we had no money for extras, yet they LEARNED TO READ IN FIRST GRADE.   I can give you at least two reasons...children were expected to behave and we taught phonics.

 Why did the children know how to act?  They were taught at home and told to be good at school.  If a child got in trouble at school, he would also be punished at home. We didn't worry about the fragile psyche.

Why did we teach phonics?  Because it is the only sensible way to learn to read.  One develops the skill to learn new words.  Yes, there is a few words in the English language that must be learned by sight.  A FEW. It is not possible to learn them all by sight. NO WAY.  And that is the reason so many of our people do not read and the level of reading of the general population is poor.  Check the statistics, you will be floored. Sad, sad, sad.