[Strategerist]

Phonetics is what allows a reader to be able to read and say a word like diethyldimethyltoluene without having encountered it before.

As a child I easily read and understood (from context) words like "Archaeopteryx" without any attempts to sound them out.

Could I then pronounce it correctly? Of course not. But some kid tediously trying to "sound it out" isn't goung to end up pronouncing it correctly either.

[FreedomPoster]

There is more than adequate empirical evidence that vast numbers of children are not well-able to learn in that manner, and that phonics works for most of them. That our education establishment insists on a one-size-fits-all approach is insane.