For decades, educators have been trying to bring inner city children up to par with their suburban counterparts and have failed miserably. School takeovers, grants, SmartBoards, computers, Head Start, and a host of cure-all programs have done little to balance the success of the haves and the have-nots. Unfortunately, this will continue for years to come unless there is a radical change in school philosophy.
To succeed in school, you must be able to read. Children are required to read printed materials that provide them with the information they need to pass tests. They need to read the tests so that they can understand how to respond to the questions. When children experience school failure, their inability to read is usually the culprit. Since reading ability determines who succeeds and who fails, it is easy to see why inner city children are doomed from day one. There are three basic reasons. First, they do not possess the background of experience that is essential to the reading process. When looking at the printed page, readers make connections with events that occurred in their lives. For example, a story about a farm would be more meaningful to a child who visited a farm than to one who never had this opportunity. It is easier for me to read education journals than Popular Mechanics because of my teaching background and my lack of experience with machinery. While middle and upper class children are traveling to various cultural and geographic places of interest, inner city kids are spending their free time within neighborhood boundaries. By the time Suburban Sam enters first grade, he is light years ahead of Inner City Ike in the experience department.
Second, learning to read also takes a great amount of concentration. Children who have social, emotional, and/or health issues often find learning difficult. How much attention can you give to the teacher if you are hungry or if you have a toothache? How can a child focus if he is afraid to go home after school? Life in the inner city is filled with land mines which are generally unknown to those in tree lined communities.
Finally, there is a culture that promotes reading which is more likely to be found in middle and upper class families. These parents subscribe to newspapers and magazines. They take their children to bookstores. They are seen reading and enjoying books, thus setting reading role models. Should their children have trouble learning to read, tutors can be hired.
Very little attention has been given to these concerns until lately. Although many inner city schools are now providing educational experiences outside the school as well as serving free breakfast and lunch, they are climbing a hill while the suburbanites are perched on Mt. Everest.
For everyone to be playing on a level field, reading ability must be taken out of the school success equation. Schools need to come to grips with the idea that not everyone is going to become a neurosurgeon or a rocket scientist. There is no reason for all children to be reading on grade level. Most magazines and newspapers are written on a fifth grade level. As we move through the twenty-first century, the print medium is being replaced by audio/video devices. Most jobs do not require employees to read beyond a fifth grade level. So why do we still adhere to a twentieth century curriculum where reading ability trumps everything else?
Children march to their own inner drumbeat. When you watch preschoolers play, you can easily see how their interests differ. Some are more curious than others. Some have less attention span than others. Some like to play with puzzles, while others prefer to use crayons. These differences illustrate how children react to the world around them. By the time they enter school, they are already leaning in certain directions. Experienced first grade teachers can identify the artists, the readers, the writers, and those who are creative and imaginative, after the first week of school. Yet, regardless of interest and ability, everyone “drinks out of the same glass.” While teachers can delay instruction in certain areas, they are pressured by the system to make sure that reading skills are taught regardless of the readiness of the children.
One of the false premises behind Head Start and other preschool programs is that earlier is better. Current thinking suggests that if children can be taught to read at age three or four, then they would be on grade level when they enter first grade and beyond. While this may benefit some children, it is a disaster for many inner city kids who do not have the necessary tools to succeed. To them, Head Start means more years of frustration as they try to master a process that is far beyond their capabilities. Preschool reading activities should be limited to story telling and allowing those children who demonstrate reading ability to do so. There should be no formal reading instruction.
As children enter first grade, reading instruction should be available to those children whose readiness skills indicate that they will meet with reading success. This is a critical stage in the educational career of all children. Failure is not an option. Once children realize that their peers are passing them by, it becomes a desperate struggle to catch up, which of course, they hardly ever do. This scenario needs to be removed and fast. If we truly believe in individual differences, then learning should not be a race to a finish line. All children need to progress in reading at their own pace without school and/or parental pressure to meet some unrealistic goal.
Schools need to remove grade level reading from their vocabulary, and focus on interest level instead. As adults, no one forces us to go to the library or participate in a sport. We follow our interests because they lead to happiness and success. Why should it be different for children? For them to succeed in school, they need to enjoy the experience, rather than be continually frustrated by arbitrary decisions made by strangers. This means that schools should provide opportunities for children to pursue their strengths and go as far as their talents will take them. Talented artists should achieve the same status as talented readers. They should not be pressured to read any more than the readers should be pressured to enhance their artistic skills. At the end of the day, no one will fail due to poor reading skills, as there will be other roads that lead to success.
Educators need to come to the realization that by adhering to an outdated philosophy, they are causing children to fail. If a teacher gives a child a textbook that is too difficult and the child fails, who is responsible – the teacher or the child? Educators must stop placing obstacles along the learning path. If everything one needs to know can be learned from a book, then why have schools? Good teachers have always known the answer. They use multi-level texts, trade books, demonstrations, visuals, and a variety of creative strategies that make learning enjoyable and rewarding to children. However, they are constantly being thwarted by administrators and board members who cannot see farther test results. Toward the end of my teaching career, I have seen many a good teacher “throw in the towel” because they could not continue to maintain their innovative, creative style due to the amount of time devoted to teaching to the test. It is no secret that success leads to success and failure leads to failure. By deemphasizing reading and testing, we would be removing the main reasons why inner city kids are failing. They would now be compared to everyone else in a variety of areas, which will allow them to have more opportunities to succeed.
This idea in no way diminishes the talents of those who can read. You will still have the same number of children reading on or above grade level. However, it takes the pressure off children who, for many reasons, cannot grasp reading instruction during their initial school years. As long as reading ability and school success are intertwined, inner city kids will always be behind the eight ball. It is time to change the format and give these kids a realistic chance to move through the system without wearing the reading failure label.
Bob Blumenthal – retired educator
