Literacy Fundamentals
Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog
Earlier today, I attended the Congressional Black Caucus annual conference, specifically a special session on literacy sponsored by Rep. Chaka Fattah. All sorts of interesting points were made, but I want to focus on two in particular. (Bear in mind here that boys consistently perform poorly on literacy tests, trailing girls by double digits on both reading and writing by the twelfth grade. More than one attendee made the connection between having difficulty with reading and writing and eventually dropping out of school or turning to delinquency–both areas where boys yet again outpace girls.)
1.) There are millions of adults who can’t read, and parental illiteracy raises the probability that the children will have similar problems. At once sensitive and heartbreaking, this is a very quiet and poorly understood problem. Clearly, if you are reading this now, it may not affect you directly, but life can be very difficult for adults trying to hide illiteracy. And it certainly makes it hard for children in that household to turn to the parent in order to learn themselves. So it is important for us to reach out to adults who struggle with illiteracy and help them learn so that they can help their sons.
2.) Some households have no books. Having grown up in a house littered with books, I have to admit that this one always comes as a bit of a surprise to me, but how can boys get a jump on learning to read when there aren’t even any books in the house? Parents and teachers alike can work with programs like Reading is Fundamental and First Book to encourage book distribution–especially in areas where public libaries and home book collections are sparse.
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