The Nail in the Heel: Why Educators Defend Failure Instead of Fixing It

 

Here is my reply to Allie and Emma Hartnell-Baker

I hear you, but you're still missing the point.

You're describing a kid limping because there's a nail embedded in his heel — and instead of pulling out the nail, you're listing a dozen other possible reasons: wrong shoes, poor nutrition, weak muscles, bad posture, lack of motivation, etc. Sure, those things could matter in some cases. But when 20% of kids have been leaving school as functional illiterates for decades, year after year, with the failure rate barely budging, it's time to stop the excuses and remove the damn nail.

The main reason so many smart kids shut down and disengage from reading is wrong instruction from the start: teaching letter sounds with extraneous "uh" or "huh" noises tacked on (buh, fuh, cuh, etc.). That makes blending impossible. Kids try to sound out "cat" as cuh-ah-tuh and it doesn't make sense, so they get confused, frustrated, and switch off. Then we wrongly label them "dyslexic" when it's dysteachia — bad teaching.

I've taught over 80 of these kids. When I correct the sounds (pure sounds, no junk added), teach letter names properly first (because many words use letter-name sounds), and show explicit blending, they start reading fluently — often in the first lessons. Many were already in Grade 3 or higher and labeled dyslexic. The shutdown happens early because the instruction doesn't make sense to them.

Reading is layered, yes — phonological awareness, vocabulary, background knowledge, motivation. But when the foundation (accurate letter sounds + blending) is broken, everything else collapses. 

 

The other factors become relevant mostly after kids have already disengaged due to this initial confusion. Once they're shut down, motivation tanks, vocabulary stalls, and everything else falls apart. Fix the teaching error first — pull out the nail — and watch how many of those other 'layers' suddenly improve.

Educators keep defending the status quo with "it's complex, multiple reasons" because admitting the core teaching error means admitting responsibility for generations of failure. I've laid this out clearly on my blog for years with real student stories. Why defend the nail in the foot instead of fixing it? The kids deserve better.

 

Here is one recent response to my comment:

Allie-Alejandra Joyner, M.Ed. 

Founder, CEO & Creative Director at Create Curiously | Advancing Literacy Through Curiosity, Creativity & Voice

Luqman Michel I hear what you’re naming about incorrect sounds. That absolutely matters. When students map sounds inaccurately, it can lead to confusion, slower progress, and real frustration.

Where I see it a bit differently is that disengagement is rarely caused by one factor alone. Reading development is layered. It includes phonological awareness, decoding, language comprehension, vocabulary, background knowledge, and motivation. When one piece is off, it impacts progress, but students often disengage after experiencing a combination of gaps and repeated difficulty.