Summer Tutoring can help kids develop reading skills they may have missed because of snow days and sick days during this last long winter. If you know students in grades 1-6 who could use some help with reading skills, send parents to register students for tutoring at Kump Education Center (across from Kroger in Elkins) Monday, June 15th between 3-6 p.m.

Reading scores are declining in many parts of the world, and the idea of a “Reading Recession” is in the news in different print media including The Economist, The Charleston Gazette, and our local Inter-Mountain. Randolph County reading scores have been among the lowest in the state of West Virginia during the years since the pandemic, and the decline may be even greater this year after a long winter when buses could not run because of ice and snow or the bus driver shortage.

The worldwide “Reading Recession” is coming at an inopportune time when Artificial Intelligence (AI) is developing rapidly and taking jobs people have been doing. Human beings are being replaced by computers that can do work which required human intelligence in the past. Nevertheless, there will be a need for intelligent people who can recognize computer mistakes. Manual workers will have to read computer instructions to use and fix equipment on the job.

Reading is also a fundamental to human social skills. Intelligent workers will need good reading and math skills as well as good social skills to work with frustrated old people like me who are not so great with technology. Young people also need to read about characters who have suffered through embarrassments and even more serious emotional difficulties like the loss of a loved one.

However, school age children are spending too much time on screens when they need to learn to read. Scores are declining in Scandinavian countries where reading scores were among the best in the world. Old school methods of teaching reading with books are being brought back and children are not using the computer in school until the third grade.

Reading is helpful for a teenager who can identify with a character suffering emotionally. A reader can see their own situation from a more objective point of view of another person. Such sympathetic feelings help them understand other people and themselves more meaningfully. A good book is much more helpful than listening to a chatbot reinforcing self-delusionment.

In order to help our tutors and students be more alert this summer, we have decided to schedule tutoring earlier in the day. We will work one-on-one for an hour each week over a four-week period between June 15 and July 15. Tutoring sessions will be available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The fee for tutoring is $5 per hour, and scheduling adjustments may be made for family vacation weeks.