Free Illiteracy For Children

Free Illiteracy for Children

Reading is one of the most fundamental skills that most of us take for granted. Yet in the U.S., one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world, we are dealing everyday with people who can barely read. How has this happened? We look down on poor countries like Cuba because they do not have our standard of living, but Cuba has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. This is why it is so important to teach reading in pre-school; children's learning is affected by their learning to read and translates to success in their later school years. Border issues exacerbate learning to read for pre-school children; demographics, curriculum and teacher qualifications affect how children learn to read. The importance of supporting pre-school literacy programs and increasing their public funding is critical to the future of our community.

The problem of illiteracy is not new, our communities along the U.S. - Mexico border have been dealing with this for many years. We see this problem in U.S. inner cities, and in communities along the Mississippi River delta region; educators in the U.S. are constantly fighting this very issue in their classrooms everyday. We assume that there should be little concern about reading at the pre-school level or even 1st grade. According to Nicholas Lemann, "The bulk of reading instruction, on which nearly all subsequent learning is based, should be over by the end of second grade. Most of it takes place in first grade... stands out as an unglamorous and not very desirable assignment for a teacher" (Lemann, 1997). Parents have usually been focused on how our children are doing in high school and not paying attention to what our cute little children learn in preschool. "Although most preschool-age children cannot read and write in the conventional sense, their attempts at reading and writing show steady development during this stage" (Hiebert, 1988). We can not overlook the importance of teaching pre-school children to read and how this will enable success in their later school years.

Educators have long known about many of the reasons to our problems, various reports have been made and published citing how the issues of demographics, curriculum and teacher qualifications affect children's ability to learn the basic skill of reading. The border communities have seen big differences in the amount of resources allocated and how these resources are used. Border communities have multiple issues that they are dealing with and limited resources at their disposal. The international border and illegal immigration is one of the bigger issues being dealt with by local governments, and there are valuable resources being used by local law enforcement, and health care providers to treat undocumented immigrants which could better be used for education. Dr. Tanis Salant, University of Arizona professor, "stated that in the mid 1990s, criminal illegal immigration cost $5 million of the $14 million [Santa Cruz] County budget" (Arizona State Legislature, 2001). These types of expenditures take the focus of local communities away from services that improve the future of its citizens. Children of new immigrants have little or no reading ability in the English language and this makes it harder for the children to integrate into their new culture. Current preschool facilities are becoming overcrowded with the influx of new students and available funding is not keeping up.

One issue that affects the learning curve of children and their success later in their school years is demographics. This is especially prevalent in the border communities, due to the smaller tax base from which local governments draw needed funding for all of their services. The people of these areas are usually economically depressed; they have no major companies or industries from which to draw on to support their economies. The population tends to be in the lower middle class or require government subsidies to support their families. Many of the jobs in the border communities are from the service sector; fast food restaurants, sales clerks, or warehousing. Most of these jobs do not pay much more than minimum wage, so it is not easy to support a family even if the family is small. The opportunities are even harder if the job seekers speak little or no English. According to the 2000 U.S. Census for Santa Cruz County, 80% of the county population is Hispanic, and 30% of this population speaks Spanish as their primary language at home. This makes it harder for the children in pre-school to acquire the skill of reading when their primary or only language is Spanish. Many times the children do not have help at home, even though the parents are willing to help, since the parents speak little or no English. Many times the parents have emigrated from regions where they had only completed primary school or were not even able to finish primary school. These factors contribute to making it more difficult for preschool children to acquire the necessary skills needed to learn reading.

The curriculum and services offered by pre-schools affect the progress of learning to read for pre-school children. The importance of knowing how to setup the curriculum for a class is an important task that teachers need; this allows them to tailor the learning to each individual class. Teachers implement structure into the class; the children start learning about completing tasks, working together in groups and that there are consequences to their behavior. Karen Schulman, a senior research associate at the National Institute for Early Education Research, that "Numerous studies have shown that high-quality prekindergarten programs can place children on a positive lifetime trajectory" (Schulman, 2005, 1). Schulman is suggesting that with the appropriate curriculum, children in pre-schools can be taught the skills that will give them the tools to start learning to read. One of my personal observations while visiting various pre-schools in Santa Cruz County was in noticing the different styles used by these pre-schools. I was participating in a project to deliver books to children who would be attending kindergarten the following year.

At one of the pre-schools, I noticed how the children would be very talkative with me, asking who I was, what I was doing and why I was at their school. Some of the children even asked if they could help me give out the books and snacks. These children appeared to be well developed in their social behavior and to the environment around them; the environment around them was filled with pictures, letters and all manner of teaching aids. The teachers and teaching aides were constantly showing attention to the tasks the children were doing and giving praise as they completed their tasks. At another