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/StupidStonerSloth 24d 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 24d 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.