Read Dang It...READ!!!

READ DANG IT...READ

Last week I had a 6th grade class come the Media Center to checkout books.  I started by asking them a simple question:  “How many of you like to read?”.  Only 3 out of 28 students raised their hands.  I continued throughout the day to ask each class the same question and the results were similar for each class.  The most of any class was a whopping 17%.   I thought to myself “how in this day and age of unparalleled evidence into the amazing power of reading is it that only 10-17 percent of Lee students  in 6th grade have a love of reading?”.  The answer is a tough pill to swallow for many because it lies right at the doorstep of our parenting practices.  If you don’t make reading a priority in your home, it will never be a priority to your child.

Reading is arguable the single most important habit  you can instill in your child before the age of 12.  One study revealed that students in 6th grade who had been read to or read daily for at least 20 minutes a day were in the 90th percentile in their class.  In another survey compiled by the National Endowment for the Arts it listed reading comprehension as the most important basic skill of employers.  It can’t be more clear...if you read on a regular basis you will have success both in school and in your career  

 

Today books are not as important as is the practice of reading.  It is important in this age of technology to make a clear distinction between the two...they are not one in the same.  Reading can also be done on computers, kindles, cell phones, ipads and more and more people are reading with “tech” devices.  The nostalgia part in us hates this because we naturally associate reading with books, but students at Godfrey Lee will have a very different nostalgic view on reading and books in general.  So Reading is Reading and it doesn’t matter how you do it.  You just need to...and NOW!!!

I have been told that I am too passionate about this issue and should give parents a break.  After all they’re busy, work several jobs, have multiple kids to care for or can’t read themselves.  My response is simple:  In this world there are those who find a way to succeed and those who complain about why they’re not successful.  Parents need to find a way to make their children successful and there is no longer a secret on how to do this.  It is fact that if you read to your child for 20 minutes a day they will succeed in school and inevitably in life.  So...READ DANG IT...READ!!!!