a continuing, massive, year-in, year-out volunteer reading program centered on the city’s 4-year-olds

I agree with Alvin Magid on the need for rigorous early education for all students, but the solution can not rely upon volunteers. The kids most in need of early education would benefit the most from a professionally run 'massive, year-in, year-out' reading program. Volunteers are welcome, but society should not and can not depend upon them for one of the most important tasks for the students and our own well being. Neighborhood watch is a beneficial supplement to a good police force, but it can never replace it. Likewise a volunteer reading program can never replace an organized, professional and dedicated early educational system.  

Re the April 6 editorial, Who will read to, with, Schenectady kids?: Significantly, it neither mentioned nor hinted at the need to deal with the large, mostly underfunded pre-K population in Schenectady.

With or without a volunteer reading program for children already enrolled in district schools, there will be a continuing need to promote reading among the pre-K kids destined to enter the district schools principally at the kindergarten level.

Unless that need is met, massively, there can be little hope that the district will be able to deal with the reading problem. Currently 6,000 students in all grades, nearly two-thirds of the district’s students, are reading below grade level; over time, many of them will likely fall further below grade level in a wide array of courses requiring them to be skilled readers. It’s not unrealistic to expect the number of such students to increase yearly.

Passing through adolescence and adulthood, those without a strong foundation in the written language will find themselves denied the joys and benefits of advanced formal education, wide career opportunities and broad cultural engagement.

It’s time to mount a continuing, massive, year-in, year-out volunteer reading program centered on the city’s 4-year-olds, with key roles played by parents, religious and other social organizations, educational institutions, and the business and arts sectors.

Alvin Magid

Niskayuna

The writer is a professor emeritus of political science at the University at Albany