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

Be the first to write a review

Want to read this on your NOOK? Request as NOOK Book from the publisher

Thank you for requesting this book as a NOOK book from the publisher.

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Meet the Author

Advertising

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.)

Kirkus Reviews

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
Edition number: 1
Pages: 368
Sales rank: 840,998
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.

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review

( 0 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines

Tell the world what you think of this product.

Add Recommendations

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

- HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
- Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
- Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
- Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
- Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
- Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
- Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
- See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble

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

Overview

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview

Related Subjects

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

Meet the Author

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

5 Star

4 Star

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Your Rating:

Your Recommendations:

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

What to exclude from your review:

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

Reminder:

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!