Early Childhood Education Isn't Enough

The Huffington Post has a great editorial this morning here explaining that early childhood education isn't enough;  schools need to deliver a quality education K-8.  My comment:

Thank you, Mr. Chavous.  Excellent article!  I just want to add that what we really need to inundate our children with are books and all kinds of other reading material.  You don’t want a one-size-fits-all curriculum.  You are absolutely right about that.  But likewise a reading curriculum needs to be individualized.  Kids need to choose most of their own books.

I did this for years, and found that when students are allowed choice in their reading material they read much more, comprehend their reading much better, and ultimately acquire very sophisticated reading skills—skills that can’t be directly taught by pulling the whole class through books that are, to most of the class, too tedious and difficult.

And reading skills, of course, are the foundation for all of their learning.  It is just going to take courage for educators to open up their reading curriculum and trust that books kids love will teach them better than any canned, purchased curriculum exercises.