Speaking of the Times

I don't agree with everything in this op-ed piece by Nicholas D Kristof, as it does contain quite a bit of stereotyping, but...there's quite a bit of truth, too, and it's an interesting read.

Profiting From a Child’s Illiteracy

This is what poverty sometimes looks like in America: parents here in Appalachian hill country pulling their children out of literacy classes. Moms and dads fear that if kids learn to read, they are less likely to qualify for a monthly check for having an intellectual disability.

Many people in hillside mobile homes here are poor and desperate, and a $698 monthly check per child from the Supplemental Security Income program goes a long way — and those checks continue until the child turns 18.

“The kids get taken out of the program because the parents are going to lose the check,” said Billie Oaks, who runs a literacy program here in Breathitt County, a poor part of Kentucky. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Via Bibliofuture on LISNews.org.