I asked him why he thinks the system is failing, and if “the system” referred only to schools. Though Awa presents himself as a political outsider, his response was what you’d expect from career politicians: “There can be no more excuses. I asked him in the comments if his idea was simply to add more curriculum requirements for schools, or if he had a substantive plan for how schools should teach financial literacy. This is a good idea – so good, in fact, that most schools already incorporate financial skills in multiple content areas. A few days after she posted that video, state Senate candidate Brenton Awa posted an image of himself holding a sign that reads “Require the DOE Teach Students Financial Literacy.” Unfortunately, Gabbard is not alone in her ignorance. If we want kids to read, then we want to keep them in school. This seems intuitive, but study after study shows when students are held back in middle or high school, the likelihood of them dropping out of school altogether spikes dramatically.Įven Gabbard would admit that kids have a way better chance of learning to read in a classroom than on the streets. Ludwig Laab/Civil Beat/2021Ī common response is that if students can’t read, they shouldn’t pass on to the next grade. Many students who struggle with literacy come from difficult home environments. If she really cared, she’d get involved and if she got involved, she wouldn’t say that illiteracy is merely a consequence of failing schools. As far as I can tell, Gabbard’s investment in this issue is to use it to score some social media points. When we actually know the students who comprise the statistic Gabbard employs, we can understand the problem and implement real solutions. Gabbard claims that parents, not schools, “are responsible for raising their kids,” but she seems to think that providing fundamental life skills like reading is solely the job of schools. I wonder if Gabbard knows the illiteracy statistics for wealthy kids, or kids who grew up with parents who read to them. A lot of them had been abused throughout childhood. Some had parents who were addicts, in prison or homeless. Many of them grew up in a home where English wasn’t spoken and parents were gone working multiple minimum wage jobs.

Without exception, they came from unstable, low-income home environments. The oldest students I’ve taught who couldn’t read were in 8th and 9th grade. There are real people who have real reasons for not being able to read. Illiteracy is not merely a statistic to me.

The problem is, if she were to try to prove it, she’d have to spend time with public school teachers and students. That’s a serious accusation, and one that demands to be proven.

This is a serious issue I’m sure Gabbard cares about it deeply and has spent a lot of time addressing it.īut why are so many high school graduates illiterate? According to Gabbard, it’s because schools have failed. It is genuinely alarming to see adult illiteracy rates as high as they are in the richest country in the history of the world. Reading is a fundamental skill for living a good life and participating in society. Though statistics vary, she’s generally correct that a significant number of students graduate with low reading ability. The idea that public schools are not focusing on teaching fundamentals came as a surprise to those of us who actually spend time in public schools. She continued: “I’m confident that if our schools focused on educating our kids, teaching them the fundamentals … we would see our literacy rates improve … This is what our public schools should focus on.” “The reality we’re facing in this country is our schools are failing,” Gabbard said, claiming one in four high school graduates are “functionally illiterate.” She didn’t just applaud the bill for “ prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels” – who knows what could happen if kids learned that gay and trans people exist in the world – she accused public schools of “indoctrinating” students with “woke sexual values.” Last month, Tulsi Gabbard posted a video on Twitter about Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, commonly referred to as the “don’t say gay” bill.

Brenton awa wife