We have been reading about all different ways to make students read more, because reading more will help them to increase their literacy. But is this true?
In Readicide, Gallagher talks about the importance of letting students choose what they read. What if the child chooses not to read; is that choice acceptable? What if they’d rather do math; isn’t math just as important.
Our country has a literacy rate of 98%. What are they doing with all that literacy? Is literacy more than the ability to read, write and speak. There are literate adults who believe that 9/11 was an inside job because they think steel can’t burn. Any mill worker can tell you steel burns, so does being literate help them. Adults with advanced degrees whom I assume are literate can’t balance their own check book. Yet balancing a check book is something every high school student should be able to do according to the standards. Did being literate help them? My grandmother can’t set the clock on her VCR even though how to do it is in the manual on top of the VCR. Did being literate help her?
Our students our able to see what we see, and they to question why be literate? In the end literacy is a choice. Our students who choose to be literate will embrace it, no matter what happens. Those who choose to be illiterate will, and nothing we can do will change that. Due to this, are we wasting energy and resources on those who are choosing not to be literate.
Students who are free to choose, will be better students.
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