Phonemic Awareness or Phonics

The software we use teaches phonics.  So anyone advocating our program will inevitably become embroiled in the "Whole Language" vs "Phonics" controversy.
As a retired engineering professor, I was unaware of the 'Whole Language" vs "Phonics" controversy until I became involved in this program.  I learned to read using what I call the 'Look, See Method" with some phonics instruction from my mother- who completed the eighth grade in 1925.  I saw an informal video tape of Reid Lyon who commented that many middle class parents or grandparents read Dr. Suess to their children or grandchildren.  And, of course, the children read these books themselves. He pointed out that the rhyming nature of Dr. Suess teaches a number of phonemes to children. Mr. Lyons was the chief of the child development and behavior branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) from 1991 to 2005.  A long discussion of Mr. Lyons thoughts on reading are available here.
Despite my belief in Allen Crane and the Lions Crane Reading Program, I kept an open mind about this issue until Mr. Crane pointed me to the report of the National Reading Panel.  In my opinion the following statement from the report should end the discussion.
“Correlational studies have identified phonemic awareness and letter knowledge as the two best school-entry predictors of how well children will learn to read during the first 2 years of instruction.”

Eldon Steelman