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Monday, 15 February, 2010 
The Sutton Trust has released figures showing that by the age of five, children from the poorest fifth of homes are already 11.1 months behind those from middle income homes in vocabulary tests. The report also highlights that reading and library visits are essential for young children - with children who are read to daily and taken to the library regularly more advanced in their language skills than those who are not. So what does this tell us?
Well the Left of course will claim that it is all about money, that the poor reading skills of poorer kids are a direct consequence of their parents being poor.
But is this really the root of the problem or the just a symptom of wider problem?
My wife and I knew instinctively to read to our son, and encourage him to read also, which is why he is a good reader, so why are some kids not having books read to them? Books are cheap, library ones are free, Sure Start centres are crammed with books and you get free books for your children so just why is it so hard for some parents to read to their kids?
Now it could be that some parents struggle to read themselves and are themselves the adult consequence of this very problem but I think it would be stretching this too far to assume this is happening in all cases.
So is it really just a question of money?
I’m going to do some research on this and blog further in the future.
Link to the news story: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100215/tuk-poor-kids-trail-in-language-skills-6323e80.html Tags: | |
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