Good-bye Reading Rainbow
Today is Reading Rainbow’s final broadcast. After being on the air for 26 years it has reached the last page and the cover is being closed.
NPR reports that the main reason Reading Rainbow is going off air is that nobody will pay the broadcast rights – but the primary cause of that is not so much a financial reason but a change in how reading is currently being taught. The focus of literacy has shifted to being more about the basics of reading: phonics and spelling. This shift is more about combating literacy in general as opposed to promoting reading as a form of education in itself.
It’s an understandable shift since conceptually it’s imperative to be able to read in order to function in society – but what a loss to those kids who will only know reading as a technical function and not a gateway for learning and imagination.
Reading Rainbow was a big part of introducing new and interesting stories to children and it will surely be missed by me and my fellow bibliophiles.
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