Literacy and Education in Underpriviledged Neighborhoods

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“A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books,” said renowned educational activist and reformer Horace Mann. The summer before my freshman year, I was tasked with tutoring underserved youth at a nearby community center. Though bright-eyed and enthusiastic, these fourth graders were struggling to read even first grade-level stories. As each trudged painstakingly to pronounce every syllable, blatant frustration pervaded their faces. Instinctively, I made every effort to assist them in their reading, often spoon-feeding the words with which they wrestled. However, as one student after another battled through these simple texts, my heart sank at the realization that just miles from my comfortable suburb, there were children, soon entering middle school, without the ability to adequately read.

As a student embarking on my high school career, I felt a sense of injustice. Why was it that I had had the opportunity to read at an early age and receive advanced instruction while others, so close to me in proximity, did not? Further, if a community adjacent to Rye and Manhattan’s affluent suburbs faces such challenges with children’s literacy, what does this imply for even lower-income areas? My hometown, Rye, is a comfortable suburb, with highly regarded literacy programs and education systems, ranging from pre-school through high school. By bleak contrast, the South Bronx is the poorest congressional district in the country, and maintains inadequate literacy programs for the many impoverished children it contains. Research has revealed a stark disparity between literacy rates and programs for children, in Rye and the South Bronx, respectively.
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Phalen, Earl M., Hill Harper, Robert Needlman, Perri Klass, Huilan Krenn, and Richard

Robinson. "2012 Reach Out and Read Video." YouTube. 27 Jan. 2012. YouTube.

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"Research Findings." Home. 2014. Reach Out and Read. 23 Feb. 2014.

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Rich, Motoko. "Language-Gap Study Bolsters a Push for Pre-K." New York Times 21

Oct. 2013.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. "Discourse on the Sciences and Arts." Rpt. in Create book.

Sarro, Paula. "Literacy Issues & Ways to Combat those Issues in the South Bronx."

E-mail interview. 28 Mar. 2014.

Winderman, Kerri. "Literacy Tactics & Educational Programs in Rye, NY." E-mail

Interview. 10 Apr. 2014.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. "A Vindication to the Rights of Woman." Rpt. in Create book.

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