part of what Jim wrote...
>>>
the guy who was drunk got visibly enraged. He burst into tears, screaming,
³JIM! I¹m 26 years old and I can¹t fucking read! I can¹t read! How can I get
a job? I can¹t fucking read!² That is not his fault. He was failed by both
his family (if one existed) and by the school system. In that moment, he felt
safe to share that rage with me and it was controlled. In another situation,
it might not be.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<
But COULD he have sought help - or was he pushed along by the schools and
teachers and , if he had parent(s) by them?
My son told me someone came in the other day for a job app. Screaming in the
place he needed someone to help read to fill out the application. So my son
went over there first to tell him to cool it, then to help him fill out the
app. He wasn't a youngster either. the next day, i was driving with my son down
main street, my son said "that's the guy.. that was in the other day filling
out the app...".
1. By the end of second grade, every child who has a problem reading should be
identified and put into focused classes. It may be all kids should be and those
that are capable of reading pulled out. But we like to mainstream -right or
wrong.
2. I like this topic. Why? More or less my entire family is or was involved in
education - mother teaching degree sub at AP years ago, father at monmouth,
sister -was neptune special ed, aunts uncles cousins all with differing
political views teachers. So it makes me an expert by blood.
3. I met this girl at monmouth who became my wife. I realized she had a
reading and writing problem then. Great way to meet girls then, read for them
AND do their papers. Turned out she had (has) dyslexia. Of course I still
wonder how much is that (brain just sees things differently) or where she grew
up in PA, up to 8th grade in was more or less a 6 room school. Her father was a
great man as well, but had dropped out in 8th grade and her mom managed a bank,
but never went to college. While I grew up seeing my parents always reading or
typing and reading materials all over the house, that wasn't the case in their
house.
So I think the more a kid sees someone reading and reading materials are
around, the better the chance a kid will learn to read.
I did it with my kids. There has always been reading materials in the bathroom
- wall street journals, discovery mag, science books etc. I'd even leave a
computer in there. And never chase them out of the bathroom. Maybe that worked.
Maybe not. My daughter went to Hunter and I hoped she'd get interested in their
urban studies program. Didn't pan out. Not yet anyway.
Now my son is heading to pace and managed to do well enough in AP classes in
economics and bio to get college credit for them. He eventually wants to go to
med school. I wonder.
Daughter read since she was two, my son was around 4-5 before it clicked. It
took the computer to help him.
to get a kid to read, they have to be encourage and let to read what they are
interested in first. That way they don't become afraid of the book.
So does AP have any programs out there to arm each kid with a kindle or similar
device? What grade can you start that?
I'm sure you can cut a deal and stick a loaded kindle in each 6th graders
backpack. How about paying for and letting the kids pick a magazine or two of
their choice.
How about a program for parents - they get to take a FREE online class by one
of the NJ colleges. PACE university has it for kids that go there. EACH parent
gets to take one class - undergrad.
This is only one square mile.
Charities and non profits take in tens of millions. I haven't added it up yet.
Add in abbott funding and extra funding and grants.
Mucho dinero.
The business of low income and poor is big business.
I just said that the other day to someone looking to rent a building in AP for
a program. "We have people... but we need to be in the AP/Neptune area..."
the more people, the more they make. you get so many bodies per sq ft, per day.
"It's a good business to be in I hear..."
"No, no not really"
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