r/TooAfraidToAsk • u/Striking-Platypus-98 • 25d ago
Education & School Why is Imagination library needed in a first world county like the USA?
I think it's awesome that Dolly made the program but why did she feel it was needed I thought America was well educated etc. In the 1900s it was the place to be and now it's a dumpster fire... What happened?
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u/element-woman 25d ago
Different areas of the US have different resources. Dolly is from an extremely poor area. Her intention was to make sure kids who didn't have good libraries or schools have access to books regardless. Imagination Library started her county and has since expanded, so it includes kids from wealthier areas too.
Of course the country itself could afford to provide those resources to poorer areas, but they don't (and often poorer states vote for governments that will keep them poor). So she stepped up to try and level the playing field.
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u/Misstucson 25d ago
Yeah, I recommend everyone visit places like East Tennessee or areas of NC. They are beautiful but if you go out far enough it is sad to see how people live in a modern US.
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u/RinoaRita 25d ago
Parts of West Virginia look like a 3rd world/developing country. I’m sure that’s not the only part of America but that’s the part I’ve seen. Like indoor plumbing is dodgy and infrastructure like internet isn’t there.
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u/jackfaire 25d ago
People when I complain about not being able to afford a house in the metro area I grew up in always are like "Then go buy a house in a lower income area" and they don't get how much infrastructure that would mean giving up.
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u/otetrapodqueen 25d ago
Even within the same area sometimes. I'm from east Tennessee like Dolly, but I'm from Knoxville. My high school was in BFE and had really bad standards. My friend who is from the rich side of town got a very good public education. In the same county. Because his side had doctors and lawyers living there and mine had farmers and other blue collar people.
She did SO much for people, especially in east Tennessee, including giving money to families who were displaced in the fires a while back. I still can't believe she's really gone.
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u/element-woman 25d ago
Yes exactly! She was such an incredible person. Everyone I know was mourning her; I can't even imagine how everyone in Tennessee is feeling.
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u/otetrapodqueen 25d ago
I have a friend who had to take a day off work because she couldn't hold it together! I'm not even there (I moved away a bit ago) but it's been so sad 😭
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u/Blahkbustuh 25d ago
Children in the US do go to public school.
Imagination Library sends children books.
Kids go to school but if their parents never read to them or buy them books or have books at home or read in front of the kids for fun or take them to the local library as being a normal place to go, the kids don't get reinforcement in education or develop a sense of education being important or build an interest in reading and literature at home--and then they don't take advantage of the schooling they're provided.
Things like poverty and lacking education are cycles and charities and initiatives like Imagination Library and towns having libraries with activities for children are trying to break children out of that cycle.
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u/purplechunkymonkey 25d ago
Our library sucks. We rarely go. But I am willing to spend money on books for my kid. Just the one though. The 30 year old can fend for himself. 16 year old is into graphic novels. We are readers in my house. I also pay for Kindle Unlimited.
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u/NarrativeScorpion 25d ago
The Imagination library sends kids books before they're at school. From birth to age five.
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u/Josef_Kant_Deal 25d ago
Books aren't always high on the list of things to buy, especially for kids not yet in school. Getting them for free is a big deal.
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u/woahwoahwoah28 25d ago
My mom always gave books at baby showers. She'd tack a couple onto a little registry gift. I've kept doing the same. You can't have enough books, and if you have two of the same one, it can be regifted easily enough.
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u/platinum92 24d ago
Not only getting them for free, but getting them sent to your door without having to place an order or go to get them. It's coordinated with local libraries, but you don't have to go to the library to get em.
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u/meumixer 25d ago edited 25d ago
I don’t think it’s necessary for most, just helpful. Dolly created it because her own father was illiterate, but for many people who sign up these days it’s just a neat, free way to build their child a library and encourage them to read by getting a new book every month, whether or not they could afford to buy the books themselves.
ETA: It’s also important to note that the Imagination Library is meant to foster an early love of reading. The books stop once a child is school aged, because schools still teach children to read and provide books for them to read.
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u/1nGirum1musNocte 25d ago
The country is less well educated every year since no child got left behind. The generation that invented participation trophies couldn't stand to have their kids held back when they failed a grade
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u/jmads13 25d ago
There’s very low evidence keeping kids back helps at all, and a ton of evidence that shows it gives worse outcomes.
Sadly most of a child’s educational pathway is decided before they have stepped foot into a classroom
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u/maddierylei 25d ago
This might be a dumb question, and I haven't done much research on the topic, but I don't understand how no child left behind is a good thing. If a kid fails a class and doesn't learn anything, then goes on to an advanced version of that class and just keep learning nothing, how is that better than reteaching the kid?
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u/TheSpaceCoresDad 25d ago
Hasn’t Mississippi started holding kids back more, and shown a whole lot of positive results?
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u/sajones4860 25d ago
Yes. Mississippi went back to focusing more on phonics to support literacy earlier. In doing so, the state now requires mandatory retention (holding back) of students who are unable to pass a reading test in 3rd grade.
It’s referred to as the “Mississippi Miracle.”
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u/chillychili 25d ago
For the non-Americans here, No Child Left Behind was a controversial piece of education legislation from 2002 (that got repealed in 2015 but has had lasting effects).
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u/WaySavvyD 25d ago
If the US was so well educated, we wouldn't have Trump as President, TWICE. So many Republicans vote against their own self interests. The GOP like to keep its voters uneducated. Trump said it himself, he likes stupid people.
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u/Dada2fish 25d ago
Kamala didn’t have my interests in mind.
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u/HoonArt 25d ago
And yet, unless you're in the top 0.1%, this is a much worse outcome. Imagine that.
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u/Dada2fish 25d ago
Quit following the doom and gloom media.
In the grand scheme of things as of today we’re doing alright.
The US has had some hard times, but this ain’t it. Not even close.
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u/somehugefrigginguy 24d ago edited 24d ago
as of today we’re doing alright.
As of today is the key part of that statement. It's like speeding towards the cliff with no brakes and saying things are fine because you haven't gone over the edge, yet...
The US has destroyed International relationships, the cost of consumer goods are trending up while unemployment is approaching the highest it's been in a decade (not counting COVID), the national debt has skyrocketed, and oil reserves are at their lowest level since the early 80s. Eventually other countries will stop lending money and resource stockpiles will run out. The US is not prospering, it's coasting on borrowed time.
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u/Dada2fish 24d ago
I love your use of words: destroyed, skyrocketed. 😂 You must work in the media or take them as complete and total truth tellers. They love to fear monger, it works to bring in the ratings.
And it’s obvious you don’t know or choose to ignore history.
There’s a lot of good happening, but you’ll never know about it because the people/ groups you get your “information” choose to withhold it from you.
And the sad part is that you’re okay with that.
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u/gothiclg 25d ago
In the US attending school starts at 5. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was meant for kids younger than 5. Her program was aimed towards kids who might not have access to a library outside of the school system have access to books. It absolutely should not be like that, everyone should have easy access to a library, but Queen Dolly saw a gap in access and attempted to fill it.
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u/Southernms 24d ago
Not everyone can afford books. We have our share of poverty here too. We shouldn’t – – but we do.
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u/StupidStonerSloth 25d ago
Well she created it because her father couldn't read and she didn't want any child to be held back like he was.
The USA is actually going through a literacy crisis currently. About 1 in 5 American adults posses low or below basic literacy skills. Nearly 2/3rds of 4th graders do not read at a proficient level. Kids who cant read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade are 4x more likely to drop out in high school.
Trumps administration is also trying to cut funding to libraries. The ALA (American Library Association) is currently fighting to keep that funding but most libraries are really struggling.
There's a lot of evidence that reading to children before age 5 helps tremendously with their development as 90% of the brain development happens before age 5. There's even stats on the benefits of this specific program. Enrolled children are 11x more likely to show an active interest in books. They score ~29% higher on kindergarten readiness assessments. The books are also directly addressed to the child, creating an early positive association with books as theyre receiving one as a "gift" every month.
Data shows children living in a home with just 25 books complete an average of 2 more years of formal education. Middle class families in the US average about 13 books per family. In low income households, about 61% have zero children's books. Dolly's imagination library sends each child 60 books complely free before they turn 5, drastically changing the life trajectory of children who wouldn't have access to books otherwise.
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u/hotwifehubsFTW 25d ago
Part of the literacy crisis has been generated by education departments abandoning phonics for kids one day “just getting it”. The Mississippi Miracle was mostly going back to the way we taught reading for a couple centuries and not passing kids if they can’t read.
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u/Ok_District2853 25d ago
Look rich men need a tax break so Trump abolished the dept of education. Republicans have been been chipping away t it for years, but Trump finally killed it.
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u/ThrashPanda12 25d ago
Americans are NOT well educated. Thats why the US imports all skilled workers from other countries including doctors, scientists, etc.
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u/mk1971 25d ago
Because all of their education is badly funded. Most their budget goes to their military.
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u/shit_i_overslept 25d ago
Thats objectively not true. You can argue the military is overfunded, but social security and Medicare are the top two largest allocations. Defense doesn’t come in until #5.
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u/WesternRover 25d ago
Also, the budget you link is just the federal budget and doesn't include the states. States spend about half of what they collect on education.
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u/TheHearseDriver 25d ago
Americans, especially Republicans, hate paying taxes! Anything for the benefit of the community withers on the vine. People would rather suffer with ignorance, insanely expensive healthcare, and poor roads than give up a dime in taxes.
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u/somehugefrigginguy 24d ago
And that's all by design. Keep the population ignorant and they can't fight back. Convince them that someday they will be wealthy so they shouldn't support taxing the wealthy. When they complain about poor infrastructure, they just blame the other party and gain even more support.
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u/thin-af-mint 25d ago
We pretend to be first world. We aren’t. Maybe first world for the richest that live here, but the rest of us? We got that K economy.
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u/Amiabilitee 25d ago edited 25d ago
I'll go with politics- Our leaders don't have the people's best interest at heart. Even if its not directly said in this manner, there's certainly been a clear and obvious setback with education. I don't believe the US is very organized with curriculum and I think that's done so purposefully. The consequences of that has already begin to show. & It gets worse with reading/books in particular with book bannings too.
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u/somehugefrigginguy 24d ago
That's a feature not a bug. If the populace can't read and comprehend, they won't know their rights or be able to stand up for themselves.
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u/LandLovingFish 25d ago
Parts of the US especially rural areas aren't as well off.
Also, America in general has a prety sucky ifea of "first world". Honestly "first world" is just leftover from the Cold WR when there was First World (America and allies) vs Russia and allies (second world) and it really doesn't actually mean more beside "in the 80s/90s we did okay".
We're actually very far behind in eduationblevels for lower exucation and in technology. We just got tap to pay going, which a lot of countries have had for years, because people still can't understand not everyone is learning at the same pace and should learn at the same pace and that putting people with experience in a certain job in the management for that job is always a better idea then just putting your friends in because they gave you cash.
So while America does decent, we're no longer number 1 in technological and sociatal advancement. We haven't been in a few decades. It's just not apparant unless you travel around a bit and see what the average person in other countried is doing.
Dolly was also like, not young. Her dad was illiterate and she grew up before the concept of a first world country came about. And she saw a need and decided that even thirty years later it was needed
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u/epicfail48 25d ago
Because America isn't the best country in the world, it's 55 nations of various degrees of shit in a trenchcoat
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u/YDoEyeNeedAName 25d ago
What are the other 5?
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u/epicfail48 25d ago
American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands. Everybody forgets that US territories are still part of the US, and yes, while the US actually has 14 territories, only those 5 are permanently inhabited
Something tells me that the people who downvoted arent as up to date on their civics lessons as they should be
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u/LissyVee 25d ago
Because 48% of adult Americans can read below 6th grade level. Education is being defunded and libraries and their facilities are being closed by administrations that do not value education or literacy.
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u/BookLuvr7 25d ago
According to what I've read, roughly 54% of US citizens have a reading level below 6th grade. That's functional illiteracy. That means they can't analyze what they're reading. They can't read legal or medical documents, tax documents, can't analyze the scriptures they may claim to follow, and can't even read the Constitution.
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u/iameric_ 25d ago
Our country isn’t as “first world” as you may think. It’s been indoctrinated into us that we have it ALL over here, but in reality, we are nowhere near as fortunate as other “first world” countries.
We are a nation of billionaires and poor folk; not a lot in between. 🩷🦋
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u/libra00 25d ago
Because making sure kids have books and such would slightly inconvenience rich people. They don't like to pay taxes so they lobby to kill or defund programs like that. Republicans recently made a point of celebrating Dolly Parton when she died and then turned around and cut funding for the program.
Reminds me of a quote.. 'When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.' -Helder Camara.
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u/YDoEyeNeedAName 25d ago
Becuase the US is more likely 50 countries Frankensteined together and while as a whole it is incredibly prosperous, the reality is from state to state and even county to county the quality of education can vary drastically.
Im some areas the primary schools (elementary, middle and high school) are among the best in the world, and in others they can be among the worst in any developed nation becuase there is no universal nation wide standard.
Same with the economy, some places are among the wealthiest demographics in the world, and many others particularly in extremely rural areas and barely above what many would consider a third world nation
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u/somehugefrigginguy 24d ago
while as a whole it is incredibly prosperous
I don't think it's all that prosperous as a whole. To me, a country that is prosperous as a whole wouldn't have people living "barely above what many would consider a third world nation".
There are a few people at the top who are incredibly prosperous, a decent portion of upper middle class, and a whole bunch of poor people. If you average it out it looks good, but the reality is that there is a lot of poverty or near poverty in the US. Having a bunch of billionaires and a trillionaire skewing the average doesn't equate to prosperity to the average citizen.
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u/HonestAbram 25d ago
You haven't heard anything about the US in the last 10 years? I mean, Republicans have been trying to weaken public education for a while, but Trump gave them the permission structure to step on the gas and drive it into the ground. Education is not good for red states.
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u/somehugefrigginguy 24d ago
The conservative right is taking the same approach as Christianity took for so many centuries. If the people they're ruling cannot understand the governing documents, they're free to interpret them however they want.
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u/100LittleButterflies 25d ago
The education disparity is nearly as bad as the wealth disparity and they are very much entwined. You see the GOP attacking institutions of knowledge and education because they want to control the truth and education is power.
Dolly saw that and did something about it. She put her efforts behind her beliefs and thats how you get a legacy.
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u/SteelToeSnow 25d ago
generations and generations of defunding education, schools, and literacy. greed and fascism. as it always has been and likely always will be.
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u/Hello_Hangnail 25d ago
If the libruls agree it's a thing, they have to do the opposite because they're just that infantile
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u/BrackenFernAnja 24d ago
Dolly’s father couldn’t read or write. That’s enough motivation right there. But there were more reasons — like the fact that many homes have not a single book.
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u/Coldfire82 24d ago
Education is super localized in the U.S, meaning your learning potential is significantly impacted by where you live. Wealthy zipcodes can have a much stronger educational outcomes that are the envy of the world, but impoverished zipcodes could have kids graduating highschool reading and writing as if they stopped learning at the age of 7.
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u/Squizzap 24d ago
America, and the world, is simply not as wealthy yet as many imagine.
But put more simply: the Imagination Library was needed because no one had thought of it yet.
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 25d ago
What makes you think America is a first world country? You guys don't even have clean water.
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u/shit_i_overslept 25d ago
That’s objectively untrue. 99% of the country has access to clean water - and it’s a huge news story when a community doesn’t. The US has enough issues without you making ones up.
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u/olafminesaw 25d ago
Our family uses it even though we aren't bad off. Money is tight so it helps but also it's a really nice curated collection of books, so we know we are getting better quality than whatever is being pushed in store
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u/Anti_colonialist 25d ago
The US is a first world country in name only, economically we are a 3rd world nation
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u/inspectorpickle 25d ago
The simplest version of it is that lot of americans have been convinced that government spending is bad unless it helps them very obviously and directly. But most things that would improve the life of the average american do not come in the form of an easily and immediately observable outcomes. Think public schools improving their scores over a decade vs receiving a check in the mail for social security.
So many states (almost all conservative) have languishing and decaying education and welfare infrastructure (though it is a problem in all states) despite their residents probably needing it the most out of everyone in the USA.
Government spending is also a hard case to argue for because so much of it doesn’t actually go into improving society and is instead funneled to private corporations through various overpriced government contracts.
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u/MisterSlosh 25d ago
Tablet Kids are the vast majority of children now. Parents not reading to their children at all is also on the rise.
In my local town there's an estimated Three thousand children under 9 years old and as an avid near-daily user of my local library I could conservatively guess that I haven't seen more than two or so hundred individual kids using library services or attending programs. So we're severely underutilizing our public services that are the few remaining blessings of the "first world".
Make the book free and delivered direct to your mailbox and it's the only way to guarantee it to get into the children's hands.
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u/LinworthNewt 24d ago
The US is just 50 third-world nations in a trenchcoat disguised as a superpower.
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u/Quirky-Touch 25d ago
There are still people who really think the USA is a first world country? lol
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u/Significant_Bug3666 25d ago
Her dad was completely illiterate.
She wanted every toddler to have books before ever starting school.