The frustrating thing is that people drew ideological lines between "whole language" and phonics, at least in the US, and now saying that phonics is a better way to teach English reading is... considered a conservative position. Most people arguing strongly for phonics and saying "whole language" doesn't work are also arguing for only reading dead white men, teaching that the US Founding Fathers were actually conservative Christians of the speaker's variety that could do no wrong, and teaching that 1950s gender roles will make everyone happy and violating them is evil.
People who find those positions reprehensible often don't want to be seen attacking "whole language" because they don't want to be associated with people like that.
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The frustrating thing is that people drew ideological lines between "whole language" and phonics, at least in the US, and now saying that phonics is a better way to teach English reading is... considered a conservative position. Most people arguing strongly for phonics and saying "whole language" doesn't work are also arguing for only reading dead white men, teaching that the US Founding Fathers were actually conservative Christians of the speaker's variety that could do no wrong, and teaching that 1950s gender roles will make everyone happy and violating them is evil.
People who find those positions reprehensible often don't want to be seen attacking "whole language" because they don't want to be associated with people like that.