A NY Times editorial says that the NY teachers don't teach kids how to learn properly because they think that phonics is a right-wing plot:

The National Institutes of Health, after more than 30 years of research, has said that perhaps 40 percent of children need a structured reading program to succeed. But the teachers' colleges and the public schools have failed to listen, and continue to operate under the popular but mistaken notion that children learn to read naturally. Many public schools view structured reading work as part of a right-wing "phonics" conspiracy aimed at crushing educational creativity.