[justin66]

I appreciate the thoughtful reply - thanks! There are some things here to follow up on eventually.

I'm very skeptical that the aforementioned "consultants" made money off of the phonics controversy in a way that was comparable to those selling home lessons, but that's my main quibble at this stage.

> for many years colleges were all teaching utter nonsense.

That must be an exaggeration. It made me realize I actually have no idea how many different streams of methodology there are in education, outside of what we define as the mainstream. Certainly phonics is a part of Montessori education. Ah well, another thing to read about someday.

[ch4s3]

The way primary teachers are taught is indeed an interesting topic, and its bizarrely not interdisciplinary. You have teaching colleges 100 yards from world class psychology or developmental neuroscience programs and they just don't talk.