The Need to Read - How Important Is It?

Can you imagine what it is like to not be able to read? Or perhaps not be able to read well! After reading the article “America’s Reading Problem: Scores Were Dropping Even Before the Pandemic” I was saddened and alarmed. I wanted to see what type of learning material was available to help children read. A few weeks ago, I came across the instructional book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, which addresses phonics-based teaching.

The preface in the book points out that “In 2021, the Children’s Reading Foundation, a nonprofit with the goal of reading proficiency, found that ineffective reading programs remain prevalent in U.S. schools.” In a recent Time magazine article, “Inside the Massive Effort to Change the Way Kids Are Taught to Read (https://time.com/6205084/phonics-science-of-reading-teachers/),” the author points out that “reading scores did not improve much after balanced literacy was introduced, but they didn’t plummet, either.” However, through much pushback, the tide has turned “back toward a stronger emphasis on phonics.”

Reading has its tentacles beyond a classic, such as Little Women or Jane Eyre or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It’s being able to understand math problems, how to conduct science experiments, become familiar with U.S. history, be able to master reading comprehension, and, yes, be able to read God’s Word.

As I read the preface of the Teach Your Child instructional book, it pointed out what I have read before: “only one in three children read proficiently in the third grade.” Is this not alarming to parents? How concerned are our local, state, and federal politicians with low reading scores? It should be a wake-up call to all of us! We are doing a disservice to our children and their future by not doing more to ensure they can adequately read.

If you have used the Teach Your Child book to help your children read, we would love to know what your thoughts are of the book. Has it been helpful? What other books on reading would you, as a parent or a teacher, recommend? We’d like to know.

“Become a change agent for others in giving the lifetime gift of reading.”