Who Needs Phonics?

In The Love of Learning and Desire for God, Jean Leclercq describes the grammar studies in Benedictine monasteries: “During the Merovingian period, this teaching program was reduced practically to the psalms: and instead of beginning by the grammatical analysis of letters, then of syllables, words, and finally of sentences, the child is immediately put in contact with the psalter, in which he learns to read first verses, and then whole psalms.” Leclercq goes on to clarify that this was more by necessity (for students who were not literate) than by design, but it is still intriguing to consider a grammar school curriculum centered on the psalms. It’s been done before.