If you graduated before they implemented this or aren’t American, the system they started to use to teach kids how to read is called three cuing. They teach kids to identify unknown words by guessing based on clues in pictures with the sentences, what word would ‘make sense’, and whether the answer they came up with looks right based on the first letter.
As you may have noticed, none of that is reading a word. These are strategies that borderline illiterate people will use to try to understand words, and for decades it’s been the method used by many schools across the country.
So that person you’re arguing with online who keeps going off on bizarre rants barely related to anything you said might not be a troll, they might just be functionally illiterate due to having never been taught to read. Yaaay!
My only real exposure is helping friends kids with their homework, and it really seemed like they were focused way more on shortcuts to correct answers for simple problems than how and why numbers interact. Which I guess is kinda what you’re saying! Imo those are great techniques for working at a higher level, but in no way a substitute for observing and understanding the processes that lead to those answers. You’ll get plenty of competent accountants that way, but you won’t inspire many mathematicians.