Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

Hello All,

Today I posted a comment on www.nj.com (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/affordable_after-school_care_n/1607/comments-newest.html). You can find it below.

I wrote my comment to counter the many hate-inspired, loathing comments I read that were directed at poor kids, kids with disabilities, and their families. My hope is that these hate-inspired comments represent a minority. My fear is that the minority will win–as it often does–when people who care about kids remain silent. What’s important is that people who want to save afterschool programs speak out, to counter hateful and biased comments.

If you post a comment, some people will disagree with you; they may verbally attack you. So what? It’s part of citizenship, it’s part of standing-up for what you believe. And if you believe that afterschool programs will help kids–rich, poor, tall, short, with disabilities, at-risk for disabilities, without disabilities–post a comment. You’ll be doing good, which might make you feel good.

You can post a comment at http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/affordable_after-school_care_n.html#_logout

Thanks,
HM

Posted by Howard Margolis, Ed.D. February 18, 2010, 3:05PM

Afterschool programs provide a safe haven after school, allowing poor parents to hold jobs.

But just as important is the research on the effects of afterschool programs on children. The research shows that afterschool programs help children, cost little, save money, improve academic performance, improve attendance, improve behavior, and strengthen the motivation of children to excel in school. The greater the number of children that develop these characteristics, the lower the costly grade retention rates, the stronger the work force, the lower the juvenile delinquency rate, the lower the emotional and fiscal cost of crime, and the greater the economic prosperity of the state. Cutting afterschool programs makes no academic or economic sense. These programs save money, lots of money. Cutting afterschool programs is not an economic move. Its a philosophical battering of the poor, the kind that will create or sustain the poverty that Charles Dickens so deplored.

A summary of the research on afterschool programs and how they save money can be found at http://www.reading2008.com/blog/save-money-improve-lives-support-afterschool-programs.htm

Howard Margolis, Ed.D.
Professor Emeritus, Special Education & Reading Disabilities, CUNY

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

www.reading2008.com/blog