I would refine your statement about phonics as the mistake is HOW we teach phonics, not that we use phonics in itself. Phonics at it root is about decomposing

I would refine your statement about phonics as the mistake is HOW we teach phonics, not that we use phonics in itself. Phonics at it root is about decomposing a written word into its sub-units, and then applying rules to build back up to the whole word sound. The alternative to phonics (as unreliable as it is) is basically rote memorization (granted that English requires significant rote memorization anyways). Here's an article (it was previously on HN I think) that talks about the whole word vs phonics "debate" https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-ho... I found it really interesting.