Importance of Reading

I like your program, Reading by 9 (editorial, June 14), especially where it focuses on parents. As a former public school teacher I, too, regret any child not being able to read adequately. But during my 34 years I discovered that no matter how many new innovations were tried in the schools, little change was noted. Just maybe our efforts should be placed elsewhere.

Reading begins at home. If stories are read to children at the youngest age possible, they’ll soon be reading to their parents. If books are available in the home, and children observe their parents reading, they will soon follow suit. Schools are there to carry on the process. If a child enters school prepared and doesn’t progress, it’s the school’s fault; but if a child enters school unprepared, it’s the parents’ fault. A community needs to discover just where the fault lies and put its effort there.

JAMES GOBBLE

Simi Valley

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As a fourth-grade teacher in Orange County I wholeheartedly support the Reading by 9 initiative, designed to get every child reading at grade level by third grade. However, it seems one important thing is missing. I have yet to read an article that addresses the huge amount of television many children watch after school and on the weekends. When children are watching television they are not improving their reading skills.

I would like to see the Reading by 9 initiative include a component that helps parents change their children’s television viewing habits. If children watched less television, more reading would occur, and their Stanford 9 test scores would rise dramatically.

PEGGY QUINN SLONKOSKY

Yorba Linda