This video report isn’t new, but it does seem to be making the rounds—it came up on my Facebook feed recently from a few friends including the artist and worthy kid-lit author Edel Rodriguez.
Anyhow, the guy in this video—trekking through Colombia with books on his burro—is inspiring on many levels. For me, it’s also a reminder of how hungry kids are for books, and for learning. No matter who they are or where. Everywhere kids want to learn. It’s mother’s milk.
Just something to keep in mind when we think about how flawed schools in this country are. They literally are managing to turn children against learning. Impressive.
Heartwarming. But to your point back home: Are schools or ‘standards’ turning kids against reading for reading’s sake? Are schools or families and TV and iPads and mobile phones turning kids against reading books? I don’t know, but it’s a facile, and convenient, statement to say schools are turning kids against reading. Schools are a primary mechanism of socialization for Americans–compulsory schooling is (the) one thing we have in common, other than death and taxes–but who’s to say schools don’t merely funnel kids through, shaping them in a nice little v-shaped oblongs, but without determining their very nature and habits? For that, I have to think the culture at large needs to take a little responsibility. I’m talking about you, Us Weekly, and you Perez Hilton, and you Jay-Z, and you Top Chef, and you Monday Night Football, etc etc etc. Schools surely can be improved but not by demonizing the institution and its clergy, teachers.
See also,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/education/28school.html?scp=5&sq=&st=nyt