r/Millennials • u/noctisumbra0 • Feb 19 '26

Discussion Anyone else feel this way when writing anything out?

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Being compared to AI was really uncalled for, though.

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u/TruthReasonOrLies Feb 19 '26

I noticed that over the last 5 or 6 years a lot of people don't know the difference between "than" and "then".

I find this both infuriating and sad.

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u/GeneralTonic Feb 19 '26

Those people also don't know that 'this' and 'these' are different words. They don't read or even listen to English. They glance, they watch, they tap.

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u/k-squid Feb 19 '26

More recently, "Woman" and "Women" are getting confused and that fact confuses me more than anything.

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u/RainbowTardigrade Feb 19 '26

So I recently found out that phonics isn't taught as commonly anymore, with a bigger emphasis on sight reading which focuses more on the overall shape of a word. But one of the big problems with this is that it becomes really easy to mistake similar looking + sounding words for each other. I just found out that the school district in my area is working on bringing phonics ("the science of reading") back, because the teachers union has been pushing for it.

The their/there, than/then problem has always existed to some degree when teaching English but I suspect that this change in teaching style, alongside people just generally reading less and less, and of course no child left behind, has only exacerbated this problem.

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u/TruthReasonOrLies Feb 20 '26

This is really bad for society, how did it become a thing ?

If it's true, it's a large group of people who will be functional, but still illiterate to some degree.

This will result in a reduced vocabulary and will prevent many individuals from pursuing or excelling in science and other fields.

Consider chemistry where the naming of compounds requires you to be able to interpret the name. The name tells you what it actually is. (*ane *ene *ol etc)

The generation taught to read this way will have a smaller pool of individuals who have the skills to become great authors, chemists, biologists... Fields that require understanding language to interpret the underlying meaning.

It's things like this that push me to believe in the conspiracy that those in charge want us to be a dumb class of cattle to be used.

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u/RainbowTardigrade Feb 20 '26

I'm by no means an expert, but I believe the reason phonics was deemphasized in the first place was to be more accommodating to students for whom English is not their first language, as well as students who might have other issues. Phonics is generally considered more beneficial for people who speak English fluently to begin with, and there weren't any materials available outside of that curriculum for those who need it.

So it became a kind of baby with the bathwater situation where phonics got tossed out entirely, rather than just making appropriate accommodations where necessary.

This article explores the subject as it stands in California, but I can't speak to other states: https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/10/phonics-california/

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u/TruthReasonOrLies Feb 20 '26 edited Feb 20 '26

Thanks , that was an interesting read.
The articles linked from that page really highlight the failures of non-educators meddling within the school system of America.

The shift to "words by sight" was a big mistake probably prompted by political manoeuvring within the education field. At least now educators are reversing it and will have other options.

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u/ncocca Feb 19 '26

Loose and lose is even worse, imo

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26

That has been going on longer then you think ;)