Why are extra reading classes failing?

The Palm Beach Post’s Sunday story, “Extra school hours not lifting worst readers,” on the special reading program in Palm Beach County schools, revealed that test scores have not risen for readers who are struggling the most — even after the investment of $20 million to support an extra hour of classes.

In fact, the scores of the lowest achievers fell by 1 percent, and the percentage of low performers making significant improvement at two elementary schools fell by double digits. The Post pointed out that teachers can do only so much, given the poverty and minimal educational reinforcement at home (not to mention, I might add, discipline problems in the classroom).

I agree, but I would like to sit in on a reading class and experience what the teachers are teaching our children. Why? In the pho- to accompanying the story, books for the children are sorted, by subject matter, into three plastic bins. The sign on one of the bins reads, “Judged by our appearence (sic).”

That is not a t ypo, because it was handwritten on the sign. If teachers cannot correctly spell even the most basic words, what can we expect from the students? I dread contemplating how teachers mistreat mind-boggling homonyms such as “there,” “their” and “they’re.” Worse, when does “its” have an apostrophe?

Even many college students today cannot spell, construct a well-written paragraph or think logically. Misspelled words are common on roadside signs, advertisements and restaurant menus — even, on occasion, in The Post. Such handicaps are traceable to elementary schools, and in this case to Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary in Riviera Beach.

It’s a shame that we must spend millions of dollars to encourage our students to read when other children around the world hunger to learn. For example, kids in Ecuador love to go to class and return to their homes, many with poor roofs and dirt floors, and share what they have been taught with other family members.

We need to have students here reading about things beyond their own needs and gratification so that they can dream. We need teachers who can transmit not only correct information but also a love of acquiring knowledge.

We need school administrators and legislators who understand that — and who do something about it.