It's a Wonder I Can Read

I was born in 1960. And although I am technically at the end of the Baby Boom generation, I think that my generation would be better known as the “Experimentation Generation.” Not as in the fact that we experimented with "things," although we did, but more that we were experimented upon.

By the time I arrived at elementary school, the educational wizards of the world had brainstormed and were excited to offer me and my peers two groundbreaking concepts: New Math and ITA (Initial Teaching Alphabet). Since I am horrible at math, I cannot even tell you what New Math was except that it meant that our parents couldn’t help us with our homework because they had no clue what we were doing. But ITA was something I remember very well.

Here is what ITA looks like:


Here’s what they say that ITA was supposed to do: The Initial Teaching Alphabet is a phonemic alphabet based on the phonemic sound system of the English language. It was designed to present the beginning reader and writer with a logical and reliable reading and writing system. The phonemic alphabet consists of 44 sound-symbols with each symbol or character representing one sound in a word. The alphabet adheres closely to traditional orthography. The symbols are lowercase. Certain conventional English spellings have been retained such as the c and k, which have the same sound.

While all that is true, it simply meant that by the time we reached about 3rd grade, we had to relearn the alphabet, thanks to ITA. Sure, we learned to read more quickly, but what good was it if what we read had no basis in reality? It’s not like there was a bookstore full of ITA books. They could have taught us Greek or French or Spanish or German in that time and at least we would have come out of it with some useful skills!

Although the ITA Foundation will say otherwise, it is commonly believed that ITA was a giant failure, which is probably why it is rarely used today.

Today, one of the biggest concerns of today's parents is whether or not Instant Messaging will be the end of good grammar. I am a testament to the fact that sometimes kids can learn, despite what they are taught in school, so I wouldn't lose sleep over IMing. However, I will say this: If somebody tries to teach your child to read through ITA. Run...run away faest.