Why Cant U Teach Me 2 Read?: Three Students and a Mayor Put Our Schools to the Test

"Why cant u teach me 2 read?" is an unusually well-written and interesting look at the general state of literacy education in the United States today and at how it takes place in a particular set of schools: the New York City public schools. It chronicles in detail the efforts of Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein to raise reading scores, but also sets this effort against a history of literacy education in the last hundred years, especially the tension between whole language and phonics-based approaches. Since Beth Fertig is a reporter, not an educator, her account is refreshingly devoid of education jargon. It is also balanced, offering a range of perspectives while careful not to endorse one teaching method over another. Fertig also follows three young adults, Yamilka, Antonio, and Alejandro, in their quests to learn to read. Each has come through the public schools as a functional illiterate, and each now has the legal right to obtain remediation. Researchers estimate that one in five children has a language-based disorder (like dyslexia), as does each of these individuals. Add to this the influences of learning English as a second language; poverty; overcrowded classrooms, and teachers who do not know how to address such disorders, all problems that Fertig presents, and you will come away from the book with a sense of the complexity and difficulty of teaching not only children, but adults, to read. The stories of Yamilka, Antonio, and Alejandro are inspiring, but also sobering. This book also contains a solid bibliography, useful is you are interested in this subject. "Why cant u teach me 2 read?" is an engaging book for both teachers and for the general public. If you are one of the lucky ones who learned to read quite effortlessly, this book will give you empathy for those whose acquisition of reading skills takes persistence and constant work. M. Feldman

A must read for anyone teaching reading. Specific methods are described that have been successful with older students in NYC's public schools. A chapter discribes the history of reading instruction in 20th century United States. All readers of this book would be enlightened by learning what method was used to help him/her learn to read. The stories of the 3 students are interspersed with other chapters regarding the takeover of NYC public schools by Mayor Bloomberg in 2002. Fertig devotes chapters to the drastic changes: the updated computer data on every student available to teachers,inservice provided for these classroom teachers to help them interpret the data of each of their students, parent involvement, court cases for private tutoring for qualified special ed. students,and explanation of where the money comes from for these expensive changes.Beth Fertig gives hope for the possibility of early intervention and success before the learning disabled student reaches high school.

When I sat down to read "why cant u teach me 2 read?" I knew that I'd find a well-written, informative account of the state of literacy education in the United States. I knew that I'd find the stories of three students who made it through the New York City school system without learning to read. I knew that I'd follow them as they tried to gain literacy as adults. But I did not know that I'd be turning the pages with eager anticipation, dying to know how the stories of the three protagonists unfolded. Although my inability to put this compelling book down led to a few sleepless nights, I am grateful to author Beth Fertig for this important work, and grateful too for all the wonderful teachers that made it possible for me to read and enjoy "why can't u teach me 2 read."

Beth does a great job reviewing the context and complexities of the right to special education and the politics of the nyc public schools. She never takes an easy road of sentimentality or blame but rather presents a really balanced perspective showing respect for all the interviewees and the difficulties that drive their work and their lives. This book is so worth reading!

I hope you have had the good fortune to be taught to read, unlike the subjects of this book, because this is a story that absolutely deserves your attention. New Yorkers probably know Fertig as the education reporter of WNYC, and here she delivers in book form an extension of the incisive, objective journalism we have come to expect (and that is vanishing, tragically) on the radio. Here she tracks three special-needs students, Yamilka, Alejandro, and Antonio, who have fallen through the cracks of NY's educational system. Their stories are told with a heartbreaking elegance. How does our system account for them? What obligations does it have, and what can be realistically expected? If you care about the future of New York and, really, of public education everywhere, this book is a must read.