I’m not sure what specifically is meant by phonics. My grandma taught first grade for 30 years, ending around 2000. She said when phonics came in “that’s just teaching reading” and when phonics went out “well, obviously we still have to teach how the alphabet works” and when phonics came in again “eye roll”. So, whatever the school leadership says, my guess is kids are learning phonics.

I think it’s pretty clear extreme fatness (and the resulting dependence) was either intentional to keep everyone basically sedated for 700 years, or the natural side effect of that sedation.