Why Can't U Teach Me 2 Read: Three Students and a Mayor Put Our Schools to the Test

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Why Can't U Teach Me 2 Read: Three Students and a Mayor Put Our Schools to the Test (eBook - First Edition, IF TITLE CHANGES, CHANGE) Pub. Date: 9/15/2009 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Why Can't U Teach Me 2 Read: Three Students and a Mayor Put Our Schools to the Test (First Edition, IF TITLE CHANGES, CHANGE) Pub. Date: 9/15/2009 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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Overview

Why cant U teach me 2 read? is a vivid, stirring, passionately told story of three students who fought for the right to learn to read, and won—only to discover that their efforts to learn to read had hardly begun.

A person who cannot read cannot confidently ride a city bus, shop, take medicine, or hold a job—much less receive e-mail, follow headlines, send text messages, or write a letter to a relative. And yet the best minds of American education cannot agree on the right way for reading to be taught. In fact, they can hardly settle on a common vocabulary to use in talking about reading. As a result, for a quarter of a century American schools have been riven by what educators call the reading wars, and our young people have been caught in the crossfire.

Why cant U teach me 2 read? focuses on three such students. Yamilka, Alejandro, and Antonio all have learning disabilities and all legally challenged the New York City schools for failing to teach them to read by the time they got to high school. When the school system’s own hearing officers ruled in the students’ favor, the city was compelled to pay for the three students, now young adults, to receive intensive private tutoring.

Fertig tells the inspiring, heartbreaking stories of these three young people as they struggle to learn to read before it is too late. At the same time, she tells a story of great change in schools nationwide—where the crush of standardized tests and the presence of technocrats like New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, and his schools chancellor, Joel Klein, have energized teachers and parents to question the meaning of education as never before. And she dramatizes the process of learning to read, showing how the act of reading is nothing short of miraculous.

Along the way, Fertig makes clear that the simple question facing students and teachers alike—How should young people learn to read?—opens onto the broader questions of what schools are really for and why so many of America’s schools are faltering.

Why cant U teach me 2 read? is a poignant, vital book for the reader in all of us.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

New York City radio journalist Fertig delves deeply into the success and failure of the federal No Child Left Behind Policy implemented by President George W. Bush in 2002, especially as Mayor Michael Bloomberg took up the challenge to improve reading, writing and math skills in New York City public schools. Using the case studies of three impoverished students of Dominican descent—Yamilka, 23; her brother Alejandro, 19; and Antonio, 18, who all came through these high schools and remained largely illiterate despite an enormous enlistment of school services (Yamilka, for example, was later awarded $120,000 worth of tutoring hours for “educational neglect”)—Fertig unearths some knotty issues affecting the scholastic success of inner-city students, such as English as a second language, family environment and, especially, misdiagnosis of learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Fertig looks closely at how corporate-minded Bloomberg shook up the system: forcing schools to demonstrate annual progress by testing and by gathering specific data (implementation of ARIS, the Achievement Reporting and Innovations System); sanctions for schools not performing; grading of schools in terms of their students' progress. The outrage was predictable, but the improvements surprising and real. Fertig tracks the efficacy of the “balanced literary” approach to reading and the harmful effects of text messaging and e-mail, for an overall excellent, thoroughly grounding survey of the state of literacy and education. (Sept.)

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From The Critics

An NPR reporter tackles the often overlooked American illiteracy problem through the stories of three students and one very troubled school system. For 23-year-old Yamilka, illiteracy was literally crippling. Because she couldn't perform basic cashier's tasks, figure out her medication or even read the subway signs, she was essentially captive in her Bronx home. Astoundingly, Yamilka is a high-school graduate with a diploma in hand from the New York City public-school system. Her brother, Alejandro, and another student, Antonio, had similar experiences. All had learning disabilities that went undiagnosed or untreated for years, and all three were raised in Spanish-speaking families by parents who didn't know how to advocate for them during their schooling. In many ways, these are still remarkable cases. Fertig found them because they had all legally challenged the school system for their illiteracy and won hundreds of thousands of dollars in private tutoring-it's terrifying to think that there are many other students in similar situations who haven't gone to such lengths to rectify their situation. The author's chronicle of their private education gives fascinating insight into what went wrong in their public education. With enough time and attention from professionals who went to great lengths to figure out how they learned, each student became functional if not avid readers. Fertig tries to reconcile these methods with the problems facing the NYC public-school system, and emerges with a surprisingly optimistic look at the future of education. While large urban school systems will never have the resources that private tutors were able to give to these three students, both MayorBloomberg's improvements to the NYC public-school system and the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act offer hope that at least the situation may soon become less dire. Carefully considered treatment of a troubling subject that will be particularly useful to educators and policymakers. Agent: Tina Bennett/Janklow & Nesbit

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780374299057
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date: 9/15/2009
Edition description: First Edition, IF TITLE CHANGES, CHANGE
Pages: 368
Sales rank: 564,326
Product dimensions: 6.38 (w) x 9.28 (h) x 1.19 (d)

Meet the Author

Beth Fertig is a senior reporter for WNYC Radio in New York, the nation’s largest public radio station, and a regular contributor to National Public Radio. She has won many awards for her reporting, including the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for her coverage of the New York City public schools. Her reporting on the September 11 attacks won her the affection of countless public radio listeners nationwide. A native New Yorker, she is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and has a master’s degree from the University of Chicago.

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Anonymous

Posted March 10, 2011

Emily, OSU comp Student Spring 2011

Beth Fertig wrote an outstanding book. She describes every aspect on learning and teaching how to read. In the book, Fertig shows real life experiences about three students. I really connected with these three students. As a child with supportive educated parents, I never realized what went into teaching students how to read. After I read this motivating book, I want to be a teacher and help every student. This book will help me teach every student because Fertig provides different resources to help teachers teach students how to read. She even includes different colleges that are specifically trained to help teachers with students that have learning disabilities. I would suggest this book to any parent, teacher, or administrative leaders. You will definitely learn what your school district should be doing. This book was not slow to read, it was a fantastic book that made me want to read more.
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