| Date: August of the Current Year
Summer
vacation is almost over. So now is the time to seriously consider doing
something to help a silent minority attain their rights to an equal
educational opportunity. Who knows, you might belong to this unusually
silent minority and not even know it.
This fall all across our country our community schools will open with
special adult community education classes for all kinds of minorities.
There will be classes for such minorities as those who want to learn to
program computers, arrange flowers, speak a foreign language, train
their dog, improve their keyboarding skills, decorate cakes, play
duplicate bridge, etc.
But there is one minority that is being completely ignored.
And that is
the small minority of adults who would like to know what they can do to
help their child (or their spouse) learn to read or spell.
Check all the course offerings of your school's adult community
education program for the past ten years. There won't be any such class
offered. Now don't you think that this minority has as much right to
help as the other minorities? Why is it that there isn't? Good
question. Tough to answer.
We talk about the literacy movement and the need for volunteers to
help. We have local literacy programs. We have national groups such as
Laubach Literacy International, Literacy Volunteers of America, and the
AVKO Educational Research Foundation who train tutors. And here in
Michigan we have Michigan Literacy, Inc. that helps local literacy
groups train tutors. But the largest pool of potential volunteers lies
untapped--those in the immediate family who can read.
True, not all of them care. Not all of them feel that they can
help. But there is a minority who do care and who feel they can help.
There is a minority of parents who want to help their children learn to
read. They could and would help if they were to be trained. There is a
minority of adults who want to help their spouses learn to read. They
too would help if they were to be trained.
Isn't it time your adult community education program had classes in
tutoring family members in reading? If your school is to have classes
for parents this fall, now is the time for them to start
planning before the rush to summer vacation begins.
Write for a free pamphlet entitled How to
Set Up a Community Education Course for Adults Whose Children (OR
SPOUSES) Have Reading/Spelling Problems. Read the
pamphlet and then give it to the Community School Director or a
principal and make sure they begin planning. For more information visit
the AVKO Educational Research Foundation's website at
www.avko.org or
eMail AVKO. |