THE EDITOR, Sir:
IT IS pathetic to note that family literacy is lacking in Jamaica. I grew up in rural Jamaica in a normal large family. I was surrounded by aunts who are educators, and print was available from a very early age.
We are now faced in our education system with children who are unable to read and who show no interest in reading. Today everyone is expected to read. School is usually looked upon as the place where children learn to read.
I believe that family literacy should be made compulsory by the Government of Jamaica so that our Jamaican teachers will stop making blood out of stones.
Good readers are good thinkers. The socio-economic class, parents' education and the neighbourhood in which children live are some of the factors that shape children's home environments.
Children who come from homes where parents have only an elementary school education, where many live in only a few rooms, and where unemployment among the adults in the home is common, will usually be at a disadvantage in language learning.
But, Jamaican parents need to know that literacy is the way up. It should be noted that children who are advanced in language development tend to achieve better in school than those who are not. So let's take off the veil the home environment obviously plays a significant role in a child's language development.
Let's go with literacy, it is the way up.
I am, etc.,
MILLICENT BERNARD
JAMES
Manchester
