Naked Girl Reading the Portland Mercury by etchasketchistI could read at three years old. Reading is a fundamental part of the way I engage my society and the people around me. As an only child, reading was a touchstone for me. To this day, I am amazed and saddened by the number of seemingly intelligent adults around me who choose not to read. I am a firm believer that those who can read and choose not to are more ignorant than those who can’t read and are without ambition to learn.

Two weeks ago, I bought the full Hooked on Phonics kit for my four year old son who could recite his ABCs and had a general working knowledge of the letter sounds. In two weeks, he has not only learned all his lower-case letters but has read three of the books.

I never believed that I would be capable of pure joy at the achievement of other human beings, a joy which would be unshadowed by competition or comparison but the emotion I felt when hearing my son finish that first book caught me by surprise and I will never be the same.

I truly hope that he will carry the love of reading with him his entire life but I have decided I will not push that on him even though I will insist that he learn to read, speak and write in proper grammar, and perform basic math skills at least up to algebra and geometry.

I have a strong suspicion that even the basic mastery of these fundamental skills will put him leagues ahead of most of the idiots in bloom in this country.

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