Literacy Volunteers provide a tremendous service thru their efforts....everyone deserves to know how and should know how to read....supporting local libraries and school reading opportunities are also very effective....one of the best things we can do for our children is turn off the television and read together....congrats on 40 years of serving and thank you Literacy Volunteers!

I graduated from a small Northern Maine high school in 1973. At that time, a person would not be allowed to graduate with only a 5th grade reading level. At that time, everyone was expected to do the work, make the grades, and reach the proper levels to make it in society. It's sad that the Maine school system, and many other, I might add, have lowered their standards to the point that a young man or woman is allowed to graduate without the skills necessary to make it in this world. Mr. Scalese should sue the Maine school system for improperly preparing him for society.

I also agree with PabMainer. LVs do a great service. Unfortunately, the TV, computer games, and lack of parental involvement make their job much harder.

I don't understand how somebody could make it through the day and not read

Reading is not only the job of the school system, it is the job of the parents and other influential adults in the child's life. Sometimes a child (for reasons of all sorts: disablility, health or behavior concerns, etc.) simply cannot grasp the concept of reading. Are we then saying that because the child excells at math, arts, science, etc. with the help of a tutor in terms of reading, cannot graduate and have the option of a job (even McDonald's requires some sort of high school education)?? My stepson struggles at reading every day, it makes his life very difficult. We as parents, with the assistance of teachers, counsilors, family members etc. have worked with him until frustration is felt by all. He excells at so much, would I keep him from graduating for it.... no. I have rambled a bit, but the point was you cannot only blame a school system, lots of times there are many factors to weigh in.

EJParsons has hit the nail on the head. The school system in this state is broken. It is not because of a lack of money either. The funding for the schools is plenty. It is not being spent appropriately. We need to have valid tests and the 'No Child Left Behind' strategy needs to stop. We need to get the federal system out of the education system and we need to make it so that tenure is not a reason to keep a lousy teacher.

berquis - Many parents have children with learning disabilities. This can be a burden on the family and the individual. However, allowing a kid to graduate without the tools needed to make a decent living in our society is, as this article infered, becoming the norm rather than the exception. The question is why? Our public schools are a joke. The fundamentals are no longer emphasized while tolerance and social skills are being substituted in hopes that everyone will be able to get along rather than survive. What ever happened to the three Rs of education?

Another fact that is overlooked is that the public system has made it easy for the lazy to skate by. Work ethics, expectations, and discipline are no longer included. Teachers have their hands tied with unruly students. As for the children that want to excell, they are badgered, teased, and often neglected so the administrations can pander to the trouble makers and lazy. The system is broken. It needs to be gutted and rebuilt WITHOUT the meddling of the feds. Each county and state needs to run their own school systems with parental involvement, better textbooks, and renewed emphasis on the fundamentals. The social engineering, tolerance, diversity crap and mamsy-pamsy filler classes need to go. TEACH OUR CHILDREN HOW TO READ, WRITE, AND DO MATH SO THEY'LL BE READY FOR LIFE AFTER GRADUATION!

Ok so you are saying that a child that cannot grasp reading beyond a certain level but is excelling at other things in school should what....stay there until they do "get it" no matter how old? Or that they just shouldn't get a diploma and become a blister on society all together? Because I certainly didn't say he was as 'dumb as a stick' with EVERYthing school related.

Just for the record, I do feel that reading is very very important and all children that CAN learn to read, should. If not in school, later in life... I'm not some jerk who thinks that it's no big deal,. I don't want any misinterpretation on that.

berquis - If a child can't meet certain criteria in any area of education, then more work should be put into helping that child attain the proper level. Unfortunately, a parent cannot depend on the public school system anymore for that help. They have to work at home and call in professionals to help the student. The best solution in this day and age is to put all children, regardless of abilities, into private or religious schools. The public system is broken. And the NEA and politicians haven't got a clue how to fix it.

Are inmates with poor reading skills required to learn to read in prison while doing time?...The editorial said that a high percentage of inmates lack reading skills.....What are they doing in prison to address this ?

berquis in regards to your post yesterday (and your not a jerk IMHO..:) A young person can struggle with reading and not be considered illiterate....a person who can express themself thru arts and design, an individual who can fabricate something useful from junk or literally nothing but create something of value, a person that can work on vehicles or machinery, and on the list could go, some of these people could very well struggle with words but excel thru other outlets and these folks would and should be considered very intelligent and in some cases as inventors and people thru history have shown themselves to be quite brilliant....history has shown that people without sight, without hearing, without certain abilities such as reading and comprehension can and have been extremely beneficial in life and society ....Beethoven would be a great example, going deaf in his early twenties yet adapted and continued on in musical brilliance even after becoming completely deaf...just because someone cannot read or read well does not mean they can't be great and think great things about themselves....

EXACTLY PAB!!!!! Thank you! :)

PabMainer: I agree with you 100% with what you have said. The problem is with children in that position they are just passing them on rather than keeping at the level they need to be to learn more effectively. A child can have a 5 grade reading level but have a 12 grade math level. We can not just say that since that person at a 5th grade level needs to associate with people at his age level, we need to keep him in a program that will let him get the benefit of learning in the correct environment so that he does not fall further behind because he can not comprehend. There is no reason that a person like this can remain in 5th grade reading classes while being in 12th grade math classes. Because of the way the schools are being run though this is not happening. It makes it harder on the teachers and harder on the students. Not everyone is as smart as everyone else. everyone is different. But we can not graduate a student who is in the 12th grade with a 5th grade reading level without making some accommodations. Perhaps a limited diploma or skill diplomas instead.