Archive: Opinions

If I had to pick I'd say my favorite story of the week is about the reading carnival at Lansing's R.C. Buckley Elementary School.  Why?  Because it was brilliantly conceived to encourage positive values in a fun way that motivated kids to want to read.  Maybe some of them wanted to read only so they could have a carnival.  But reading is contagious.  The more you do it, the more you like it.  For little kids to show the kind of tenacity and drive that led them to earn a carnival by reading for two million minutes is extraordinary.  And it was fun.

Those kids had a blast.  I was there while the first grade and kindergarten kids got to come.  The grades were spaced out throughout the day.  Every game had kids lined up eager to play.  Naturally the most excitement was generated at the dunking booth, where a kid with good aim could dunk the principal.  Each time she went down the kids jumped up and down, clapping hands and cheering.  But as Principal Chris Pettograsso pointed out there were cheering as much for each other, encouraging each other to throw well.  She said it was worth being wet all day to encourage reading on that scale.  And she was right.

I know that because I went up the hill to the 'reading tent'.  Kids were as excited about being read to and receiving a book of their own as they were about the popcorn each kid got.  Looking into their faces was marvelous.  They were just as eager to be around books as they were to dunk their principal.  Well... almost as eager.  There's nothing more fun than dunking a principal!

That was the point of the whole exercise.  Teachers I talked to were excited because it really seemed to work.  And if those faces are any indication, it really did.  For some people reading is a chore that is hard to do and a lot more boring that watching TV or a movie or playing a video game.  But with programs like this kids are given an invaluable tool: a reason to want to read.  And that leads to reading.  And that leads to wanting to read.

And that's important.  Good reading skills mean everything in a society that is so dependent on the written word.  I've heard stories about people driving who can't read the signs.  how do they find the streets they are looking for?  I got a taste of that driving in Montreal once, when I had to dredge up my never-very-good French to try to understand the road signs.  It wasn't fun.  I eventually got where I was going but there was mild panic and despair involved.

So high praise goes to the elementary school teachers and staff, and the parents who volunteered to make the carnival happen.  Making reading fun is a challenge.  Making it that much fun was a miracle.

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