What Niels Hoven has said about Phonics

Hoven argues that teaching reading is a solved problem based on letter sounds and blending.

“reading and math are both basically solved problems. We know how to teach reading. You teach kids letter sounds and then you teach them to blend them together”

The Tim Ferriss Show: #882: How to Teach a 3-Year-Old to Read and Rethinking Education — Tim Coaches Niels Hoven of Mentava (Sep 10, 2026) · Listen from 8:51

Hoven claims that outside education schools, academia and cognitive science agree phonics is the only way to teach reading.

“everybody in cognitive science, everybody in the rest of academia completely understands that phonics is the only way to teach reading”

The Tim Ferriss Show: #882: How to Teach a 3-Year-Old to Read and Rethinking Education — Tim Coaches Niels Hoven of Mentava (Sep 10, 2026) · Listen from 59:50

Hoven argues teachers are victims of training that told them phonics discourages reading.

“teachers are the victims here, too. They were told in teacher's college that phonics will turn kids off of reading”

The Tim Ferriss Show: #882: How to Teach a 3-Year-Old to Read and Rethinking Education — Tim Coaches Niels Hoven of Mentava (Sep 10, 2026) · Listen from 1:00:58