Reading This (And Anything Else) Might Save Your Child’s Life
This is the time of year when most parents of school-age children are examining school supply lists and trying to find good deals on school clothes. I know school clothes and supplies cost a lot of money but let me share one other cost that relates to your child’s education- their very life.
Let me explain. Do you know how many states calculate whether or not they have adequate prison space for future felons? In the state of Arizona, they look at the reading levels of their fourth graders.
Let that sink in a moment.
The metric some states employ to estimate the future criminals they are going to have to incarcerate is the literacy rates of their elementary school students. Reading scores slipping? Well, we need to build more prisons.
Don’t believe that books can save your child’s life? Read on…
Over eighty-five percent of juvenile offenders are illiterate.
About eighty-five percent of young unwed mothers are illiterate.
More than three out of four people on Welfare are illiterate.
About sixty-eight percent of people arrested are illiterate.
Three out of five prison inmates are illiterate.
What shocks me the most about these statistics is that illiteracy is completely preventable. Baring a learning disability of some sort, which is not insurmountable, each and every parent, regardless of any socio-economic demographic can promote reading in their home. Libraries and library cards are free. There is no excuse. Whatever your child is interested in, there are books written about it. Just fifteen minutes of reading a day will expose a student to over a million words of text a year. Think of all the things they could be reading about and learning!
Just like every other important thing we want our children to learn, it begins with us adults modeling the right behaviors. What if we turned off the TV and read to and with our children? What if we took a more active role at our child’s school and made education a priority in our home? What better gift to give a child then to cultivate a curiosity about the world and to nurture a life-long learner. It’s up to you, mom and dad.
But let’s not stop at parents. Every grand-parent, uncle, coach, neighbor, pediatrician, business owner- everybody should be doing whatever they can to promote books and reading. Did you know that the estimated cost of our nation’s illiteracy to taxpayers and businesses is over two billion dollars a year? Think of what we could be doing with two billions dollars each year!
It may be back to school time, but school should never be out of session in our homes. So how about it parents? Are you going to make reading and learning a priority in your home this year, or does the state need to go ahead and get a prison cell ready for your child?
John Daum
Chattanooga
johnvdaum@gmail.com