Evening star., 1935-09-23
Words Offer
Color, Power
AndEnlotion
Reading Called Most
Important Subject
in School Course.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

u EADING is, in my opinion, the
most important subject in the
course of study. If child can read.
really read, he has the key to all
knowledge If he cannot read. the
door to knowledge will be closed
against him, and that is situation
sad to contemplate.
Calling words is not reading. 1t is
Just what it says it is, calling words.
Children can call words glibly. and
with expression" and still be unable
to read. I have known them to get
into high school under that handicap.
A word is a symbol, sign, as 1t
stands on the page. 1t is sound as
1t is spoken. Now symbol and
sound have to have meaning before
they can be anything except sign or
sound. How is a child to get mean
ing into them? I think by experience.
Experience gives meaning to words,
lends them emotion and color and
power-gives them real values. The
richer the experience the greater the
values.
Children in the lower grades must
learn to call words accurately, to learn
how to get at the pronunciation Of
new words. These are the first steps.
Along with them We try to help the
children to get meaning out of their
word calling by letting them have
stories to practice on. Children ex-
perience things that are about them,
so names are good words to start with.
They experience people and animals
after things, SO they must have a
place. Then come the words that tell
about doing, and these, too, find a
place in the stories A good story for
beginning readers then has to do with
people, animals and things In action.
Pictures help to give meaning to the
words. so the reader must have good
pictures.
For the first three years the children
learn to read and the technique is in
the foreground After that We begin
insisting upon the child's getting much
more meaning out of his reading, and
that side of reading, its true reason
becomes more and more important
takes up more and more Of the reading
lessons until the pupil is an independ-
ent reader who reads for instruction
information and pleasure. That means
he is we'll on his way toward Self-edu-
cation.
1t is usual for children who go tc
school to read readily enough what
the teacher gives them. When child
fails to learn to read it is an indica-
ton of some basic difficulty and should
be call for immediate help. The first
thing to do is to test the child's vision
Examine nose and throat and mouth
and test speech power generally. After
that if the difficulty still remains
search the brain centers for the
trouble.
This work is not the work of the
classroom teacher, but that OF the
skilled specialist trained for the work.
Is it a mistake to drill child who
has deficiency in reading until the
tests have been made and the direc-
tions received from the expert. Say
ing q word louder and louder and
over and over will not help child
who has a basic reading defect 1t
wastes his time and energy, vearies
him to extremity. exhausts the teacher,
and all to no purpose
Take the child who has a reading
deficiency to the expert psychologist
whose pleasure and privilege it is TO
help such children and do not make
their lives miserable by drilling them
ainlessly. Reading is too important
q subject to be overlooked if there Is
any way OF curing a deficiency.
Copyright 1880