X is for xylophone

LifLG says:
xylophone (ZY-luh-fone) noun
a percussion instrument played with wooden hammers

For the longest time, one has been able to walk into nearly any elementary classroom in America and spot a xylophone sitting near the end of the alphabet. The few who don't will likely be viewing a fantastically unreal x-ray with some illustrated child or animal poking his or her head around a square picture of something akin to bones. One must suppose this is because so few non-technical words begin with the letter. The glaring fallacy in these banners is that neither a xylophone nor an x-ray demonstrates the sound of an "x".  Xylophone suggests that an "x" sounds like a "z", and x-ray simply says the name of the letter. Modern times have seen some more phonetic banners which use illustrations like fox or box to demonstrate the sound of the letter "X"; though these may require explanation where others do not, they certainly do a better job of fulfilling the purpose of making a phonemic connection for a student who can not yet read. Until everyone catches on to this great truth, the xylophone lives on in infamy.