The reason I started homeschooling in 1990 was because the two school districts (Vermont and California) my firstborn and only school-age child attended had failed to teach him to read. Even then, the national reading scores were already abysmal. Sadly, decades later, they’ve only gotten worse, yet history tells us an interesting story.
Our country didn’t begin in ignorance. In fact, the early Colonists were remarkably literate. Neil Postman, longtime professor at New York University and a scholar of media and society, noted in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, that between 1640 and 1700, literacy rates for men in Massachusetts and Connecticut were estimated between 89–95 percent. For women in those same colonies, literacy reached as high as 62 percent between 1681 and 1697. America began with an educated citizenry who could read, think, and debate ideas. And the Colonists continued to read. Although the Bible was their primary reading material, the colonists did not limit themselves to it. As proof, Postman revealed that one Boston book dealer imported so many non-religious books from one English book dealer that the equivalent number of books in 1985 “would be ten million." Reading was not elitist; it was woven into everyday life. A thriving, classless reading culture developed.
Fast forward to today, and the picture looks bleak. Despite decades of reforms, the National Reading Panel report to Congress in 2000 recommending only a systematic phonics reading program, and trillions of dollars poured into education, literacy has plummeted to historic lows. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — often called “the Nation’s Report Card” — reading scores for 9- and 13-year-olds have dropped to the lowest levels in decades. (See the graph below.) What’s worse, the decline isn’t new. Dr. Rudolf Flesch, professor of writing at Columbia University, warned us in his 1955 book Why Johnny Can’t Read that abandoning systematic phonics in the 1930s was the beginning of an epidemic of illiteracy. Sadly, his warnings and the Congressional report went unheeded.
We’ve been pouring money into education for generations without solving the literacy crisis. In the late 1990s, education researcher Regna Lee Wood calculated how much the U.S. had spent since 1958 on programs like Head Start, Title I, Pell Grants, and special education. The total exceeded $1.4 trillion — yet millions of children with normal intelligence, hearing, and eyesight were still unable to read. As Wood pointed out, these students could have learned to read if they had been given systematic phonics instruction in the first three grades, like children before the 1930s. Instead, “look-say” and whole-language methods left them behind. And now we have had generations of poor readers.
I’ve tutored reading at two different times — once 20 years ago and now again. The difference is striking: my current students face far more difficulties learning than those I worked with before. For a while, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. But looking at the bigger picture, I suspect the combination of poor nutrition, increased screen time, and a flood of weak, semi-phonics programs has taken a heavy toll. Together, these factors are crippling not only children’s ability to read well, but also their capacity to think clearly and critically. (For information on my reading program, click here.)
The hidden factors shouldn’t be ignored. Research going back decades showed that even television could hamper children’s reading development. Today, the problem is magnified by constant screen exposure — tablets, smartphones, and computers from the youngest ages. Nutrition also plays a critical role. Diets high in ultra-processed foods, low in animal fats, and overloaded with inflammatory seed and vegetable oils (linoleic acids) don’t nourish the brain for focus and comprehension. When you add in years of confusing “semi-phonics” programs that aren’t truly systematic, it’s no wonder children are struggling more than ever.If we want to reverse this crisis, we need to return to time-tested principles: real phonics instruction, nutrient-dense foods that fuel the brain, limits on screen time, and plenty of real books, real conversations, and real thinking. That’s how we’ll raise a generation not just of readers, but of thinkers.
When I was homeschooling, I knew reading was the single most important skill my children needed. If they could read well, they could teach themselves anything — even math. And now, we see the truth of that: both reading and math scores are alarmingly low. But the solution is still within reach. We can restore literacy — and the love of learning — by going back to what works.
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