reading Archives - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

Helping Children Read - Dolly Parton's Imagination Library — Dolly Parton

Many people talk about the problems in America today, especially those of children who grow up in poverty. However, few people do anything about those problems. Dolly Parton is a singer, songwriter, and movie actress who grew up in very poor conditions in east Tennessee. She saw that her father’s inability to read or write held him back and she set out to do something about helping children read.

Ms. Parton did very well in the entertainment world and has used her money in constructive ways. In 1995 she started a program called Imagination Library in which she offered free age-appropriate books to every child in her home county. Every child received a free book each month until they were five years old with no strings attached. The program caught on and has spread throughout the United States, The United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Over 2.5 million children have received 211 million books through the program. United Way and the Lenawee Community Foundation distribute the books here in southern Michigan.

Studies on child development have shown that the most critical time is between 0 and 3 years old. The Imagination Library has had spectacular success in motivating and helping children read. One of the problems in teaching people what the Bible says is that a significant percentage of our population cannot read or don’t like to read. We can change that by helping a child learn to love books by developing reading skills at a young age. There have been other approaches where Christians teach reading using the Bible as a text.

One way to attack the problems in America is to develop a desire to read in every citizen. Many people who can’t read must rely on others to tell them what the Bible says, leaving them prone to misunderstandings.

You can learn more about the Imagination Library at imaginationlibrary.com

Dumbing Down Reading Skills
The September 2017 issue of Reader’s Digest has an interesting article titled “Have Bestsellers Become Dumber?”(Page 118). The article contains data on the grade level of New York Times bestsellers over the years. That refers to the reading grade level needed to comprehend the text. In 1960 that level was eighth grade, and in the 2010s the level is grade 6. This calls us to think about the reason for this dumbing down of the best sellers.

In our materials, we have talked about fog indexes, which indicate how clearly the literature expresses its ideas. The Gunning fog index shows the reading level a person must have to understand what the written material is saying. We strive to be clear in what we present.

The problem with this dumbing down is that the public cannot read and understand material that is academic and documented concerning facts about the cosmos. Since many scientific journals and reports are written at a college graduate level, getting factual information is impossible for much of the American public. As a result, the public relies on someone else to tell them what to believe.

More and more people rely on television, movies, and other media to determine what is factual and what is not. This also puts a responsibility on programs like DoesGod Exist? to be honest and factual with what we present. We can never be perfect, but we can strive to be open to instruction and factual in all of our presentations.
–John N. Clayton © 2017