Why Johnny Can't Read!

Lets talk about the real reason Johnny (and Jill) can't read. I can speak with authority from both sides of the fence. In my first couple of years in school, I was a very poor (back then they called it slow) reader. For some reason I just didn't seem to get it. Did my parents immediately start to blame the teacher for my lack of reading ability? No, they didn't. They set to work trying to fix the problem. Just about every adult I came into contact with on a constant basis was enlisted to make me read for them. I read for my aunts when I was at their homes. I read for the cousin who babysat me after school. I read for my parents anytime they weren't working. My father bought me extra books for home and over the next few years WITHOUT the state stepping in, I was taught to become a better reader. At no time were the schools blamed for my lack of ability.

So whets the difference today? Just about every year I do a little poll of my students. I guess you could call it a readers poll. I ask several questions. How many of your parents take a daily newspaper (my dad actually took two)? How many of your homes contain news magazines like Time or Newsweek? How many of your homes have more than fifty books?

Are you getting the picture here? We have become on the whole a non-reading society. You don't get our news from the newspaper anymore, we get misinformed by FOX News. You don't look at issues in depth anymore..........Attention spans aren't long enough. It is no wonder that our children cannot read. They have no example. AND when you find out that they are trouble, we immediately look to the overwhelmed teacher (who has your slow reading child and 20 others to deal with) to solve the problem. You scream to your legislators about the state of the schools who are putting out illiterates. The legislators, who are the last ones who need to solve any societal problem, figure that testing the illiterates and then blaming the teachers will solve the problem. Let me help you out people, that is not the solution.

The solution is for you, mom and dad, to MOVE YOUR FAT ASS OFF THE COUCH, TURN OFF THE TV AND PREPARE YOUR CHILD TO LEARN TO READ!!!!! Read to them when they're infants, give them picture books, have them pretend to read to you, turn off the cartoons and video games long enough for them to put a book in front of their face, and finally, pick up a book yourself so that they can see you read just for the joy of learning. That way, when they get to school they will have the tools they need to be successful. There is no reason whatsoever that I should be seeing otherwise normal students in a freshmen class reading on a third grade level.

Stop blaming the system for your own lazy ineptitude