January 11, 2005

No Reading Statistic Left Behind

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Gov. Jeb Bush wants to increase spending on reading by $43 million this year and make reading money a permanent part of Florida's public school budget."

Hey, Jeb, give $43 million to me and I'll give you all the reading you need. And then some.

I don't know what bothers me more: the notion that $43 million given to "reading" without a specific spending plan sounds more like the cocaine tab hidden within blockbuster movie budgets under the heading "accessories" or the idea that money would somehow translate into a new generation of enthused readers through a osmosis involving dinero.

But then these are the kind of silly impressions one forms when an article fails to point at the specifics, which can be found here. And if you read the fine print, it isn't about the reading at all, but the scores. No wonder some kids aren't so crazy about books.

Posted by DrMabuse at January 11, 2005 03:04 PM
Comments

Cocaine?. Movie budgets? Can't we leave these poor movie people alone?

Posted by: birnbaum at January 11, 2005 04:17 PM

Jeb, of course, is the smart one. I understand as a follow up to the program, there will be additional monies coming for "breathing," "walking" and "speaking." "Thinking" was unable to get any funding in this fiscal year.

Posted by: Ian at January 12, 2005 09:19 AM