You're absolutely right, and apologies for misrepresenting what you said. It seems our literacy levels are a bit lower than they should be. 96% is not really acceptable. I don't think the school curriculum should be devoted to hammering multiculturalism into peoples heads, especially if it comes at the expense of reading and writing. Certainly, I believe phonics are the most important building block. I am trying to learn another language presently, and after learning a few hundred words/short phrases by rote, it becomes obvious that I will need to truly master the alphabet/script and the phonics before progressing any further.
It's an interesting point you bring up. My schooling was in the 80's and early 90's. There was some multicultural and indigenous focus, but I feel it was a good balance. If it has gone out of balance now, by all means fix it, but I believe there are much better people to do it than the subject of this thread.
