Can't Read Or Write

[cabinetman]

A few days ago one of the two brothers that live next door asked me for a favor. This is the kid that has been a troublemaker in the neighborhood. He has been arrested several times for burglary and theft, with a case still pending.

He was selling an old junk 50's pickup truck to a scrap dealer. He had no title, and couldn't find any motor or frame numbers. He needed an affidavit of some type to profess ownership. He asked me to write up something because he couldn't read or write.

We bought this house about 10 years ago, and both brothers were about 12 and 14 yrs old. We noticed that they were home every day weekdays, and not in school. When asked they said they were "home schooled". Florida may be like many states in that there aren't many requirements to qualify for "home schooling". Anyway, it's obvious he didn't do too well with whatever program was provided.

He is a young adult now, possibly looking at some jail time. It's needless to say that he "missed out" on a basic start in life.
.

[Alex Franke]

This is the kind of thing that give home schooling a bad reputation...

That's really a shame, though. I can't imaging not wanting to give my kids every possible advantage I can.

[eezlock]

can't read or write

Kinda' sounds as if this "kid" is already doomed from the start. No education,
reading and writing basic skills not present, his life will only be harder and harder
from now on and will only become more of a problem for the legal system
not to mention a bigger and more costly expense for the taxpayers.

[LinuxRandal]

When I was a kid, up the street from where I live now, there was a girl, who must have been five at the time; she was teaching her illiterate father to read, as she learned. She had no mother around, and trying to do her homework at home, with no help was interesting. My sister (two or three years older then her) used to go up and help her when we were here (it was my grandmothers neighborhood).
I remember him being some kind of truck driver, but I don't know what kind and where. I do wonder how they turned out as they only rented that house for maybe two years.

Besides his lack of literacy, look at the social issues, he didn't learn from hanging around others (or did, from the criminals, he probably learned his traits from).

[toolguy1000]

i was going to say something sarcastic, but decided not to. a wasted life is trully tragic. i wonder what our country would be like if all our children had access to the same educational opportunities and thirst for knowledge a young, inquisitive mind posesses. my guess is the parents aren't much better and never instilled those values as their children developed.

[jking]

Unfortunately, there are some parents who don't want their children to get an education. "I don't want them thinking they're better than me." Sad.

[Uncle Cracker]

I think maybe he should have stolen a few reading courses as he was growing up...

[Alex Franke]

Unfortunately, there are some parents who don't want their children to get an education. "I don't want them thinking they're better than me." Sad.

Don't you mean, "thinking there gooder then me?"

[capncarl]

The uneducated mentality is what we are fighting overseas right now. They learn just enough to follow.

capncarl

[buckeye95]

We currently homeschool (in Ohio). I believe the rules here are that your kids need to be tested / evaluated by a licensed teacher once a year from first grade on to ensure they are keeping up.

Pete

[Martin]

can't read or write

Family denied dyslexia could be a factor.

I used to work for a older man who could not read or write. He grew up before there was a medical definition of the illness. (much childhood discrimination in the 1910's.
He was a good self made business man and had several of the characteristics of dyslexia such as near perfect memory, and was very good at going from point A to Point B.

[Uncle Cracker]

My ex has dyslexia... She can't tell her azz from a hole in the ground...

[cwsmith]

This is a very sad case in my opinion and is a good example of what can happen when a "parent's rights" exceed the norms of our society and deny the intervention of the government in behalf of the child's welfare.

Bottom line, is simply "child abuse" and the primary failure of parental responsibility which has obviously been allowed by both the local and state governments.

But along with that goes a situational attitude by our social and legal agencies that the kid is perhaps beyond redemption, even at this early age. Surely if a child can learn to read and write within a short, few years, an adult can be taught to read and write... depending of course on any debilitating issues that may exist.

I grew up in a household where my mother never went beyond third grade and my father had never graduated from highschool. Fortunately both were insistant that I would graduate from highschool, but beyond that "what was good enough for them, was good enough for me". They considered my highschooling as being the "great education" that they were responsible for. Unfortunately, at the time I heartedly agreed. But it didn't take too long for me to realize that I had much to overcome for this attitude.

My wife and I are simply ordinary people, nothing particularly special about either of us (special to each other, certainly). Perhaps our major redeeming quality is our love and dedication to our only child. While neither of us are educated much beyond highschool, we felt it our duty to provide every opportunity to our son. By the time he was two, he could read "words". By the he was three he could read and comprehend stories and by the time he entered kindergarten, his reading was at the 6th grade level.

He was one of the youngest elected school board members in our state, running a campaign and winning a key position when he was still in high school.

Today he hold's a Masters Degree and has his own "boys" to tend to and thankfully he holds great value in his responsibility to them.

It is sad to see children who are negleted by their own parents or perhaps worse, victims of thier parents stupidity, prejudices, and narrowmindedness.

CWS