Part 2: Why Children Shut Down When Learning to Read

 

 Instructional Casualties and Systemic Blindness

In 2011, Malaysia’s National Service revealed that 1,000 out of 11,000 trainees were illiterate. But after just 30 credit hours of instruction, they could read and write. What happened during their years in school?

 

If 30 hours can reverse years of illiteracy, then the problem isn’t the students—it’s the system.

We’ve accepted a 20–30% reading failure rate for decades. We debate phonics vs. whole language, but ignore the deeper issue: confusion caused by inconsistent, illogical, or incorrect instruction. These children aren’t cognitively impaired. They’re casualties of poor teaching.

 

When I raised these concerns with educators, I was dismissed. “You don’t have the background knowledge,” one said. Another demanded data, ignoring the lived reality of children shutting down in front of me.

 

But anecdotal evidence is where reform begins. It’s the spark that should ignite research, not be extinguished by gatekeeping.

 

Dr. G Reid calls these children “instructional casualties.” I call them recoverable. But only if we stop blaming them and start fixing the way we teach.

 

✊ Call to Action

We must:

 

Stop teaching distorted phonemes.

 

Explain letter-sound variability clearly.

 

Recognize confusion as the root of disengagement.

 

Treat anecdotal evidence as a starting point, not a threat.

 

If you’re an educator, researcher, or policymaker, I invite you to look again—not at the children, but at the instruction. Because learning is involved in everything, changing how we think about learning changes everything.