Open Books In Chicago Tutors Thousands Of Kids, Has Volumes Of Success (VIDEO)

Open Books -- known as "the most beautiful bookstore in Chicago" -- houses more than 50,000 books and countless stories of student achievement.

Stacked with secondhand books donated by the community, the store brings in about half the money needed to support a literacy program that provides tutoring and mentoring for kids.

The program, founded by Stacey Ratner, has helped more than 2,300 students so far, NBC reports.

Ratner tells NBC lagging literacy rates motived her to start the program.

"If you can't read the bus schedule, how are you going to get to work? If your kids don't know how to read, how are they going to grow up to have the kinds of lives they want to have?

Open Books also sends volunteers to schools for weekly tutoring sessions.

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Comments

[nam medic]

02:25 PM on 04/22/2011

Let's applaud the volunteer giving her time and and energy to this youngster. Where are the parents? Why didn't they teach their son to read. Blame the mother and and missing in action father for their son's failure.The son is following in their footsteps and America will be poorer.

[NikitaAhn]

02:34 PM on 04/22/2011

I agree that we should applaud the volunteer, but it's incredibly judgmental to attack the parent of a kid you don't know. It's entirely possible that this child's mother is a single parent who is forced to work several minimum wage jobs to support her family and who has to choose between taking time to work on grammar with her kids and going to work so she can feed them. Or maybe she is simply negligent. I don't know, but neither do you, and making assumptions about complete strangers is a mistake. And how do you know the father is absent? How do you know this kid doesn't have parents who are loving and attentive but struggle with their own illiteracy? Maybe he has a learning disability and just needs extra academic support.

[VoteThemAllOut]

01:21 PM on 04/20/2011

Let's hear it for the Chicago Public school system.

"The CPS FY2010 operating budget recommendation of $5.328 billion contained in this
preliminary document represents our best efforts to meet both of these objectives,
despite a very challenging budget year."
http://www.cps.edu/About_CPS/Financial_information/Documents/0910ProposedBudget/0910_Budget.pdf


A $5+ billion budget and it takes a privately owned bookstore to provide a literacy program that provides tutoring and mentoring for kids.

Another prime example of the need to address the lack of performance by the teachers and their unions.

[maester]

10:13 PM on 04/21/2011

You clearly have no idea of what it's like in an urban school. I also used to think the teachers were the problem, but then I joined Teach For America and saw the extent to which the politicians running these districts create a toxic working environment and how a significant percentage of the students have no desire to get an education.

[VoteThemAllOut]

11:06 PM on 04/21/2011

"a significan­t percentage of the students have no desire to get an education"

I agree; as such, why should people be made to continue to finance something/someone they have no interest in. Kick their sorry rear-ends out and make sure they never receive any wellfare, foodstamps, etc. These are the bottom of the barrel which any rational person recognizes as something to be disgarded.

Work with those that want an education.

[stayinschool]

05:44 PM on 04/19/2011

I just sent a volunteer app to them this week! Nice coverage.