Thursday, April 21, 2011

A to Z Challenge

A Tribute to the letter "R"

Universities and Money - all the time.
Universites and nepotism - most of the time.
Universities and brilliant but poor kids - seldom.
Our humanitarian side gets hurt, but our business side says "well - the expenses that universities have to go through can justify the cost."
Wait, what?  Expenses like paying Snooky tens of thousands of dollars so she can give a speech about how hard students should study and how much harder students should party?
While Rutgers could have saved the same money and could give a break in the cost of books for students or wave the fee for labs etc, I am just hoping that Rutgers was able to make money somehow from this attempt of pleasing students by inviting someone from  Jersey Shore.
Hope and ambition should not be taken away from any kid no matter how expensive university costs get. So  let us all encourage kids and grown ups to learn to read. I know some of my friends don't like it when I push them to read even the headlines of a newspaper, I am not backing off promoting literacy.

Words

You want to make a difference
In how things are going on
You want to make it happen
Before the day is done

You are really feeling helpless
You feel that it is too late
You don't want to learn to read now
You think it is your fate

It's not your fate not to learn
Or not to find out for sure
So believe me. because I am not lying
This is how you can cure

Cure the problems the best you can
Before they become a pain
In reading there will be no loss
There will always be a gain

You are afraid people may think
That you do not have a friend
If you read in a public place
A book from end to end

The flow of language that you understand
Has no equal or substitute
So read, that a writer or a poet
Appreciates your gratitude

Munir
June 2005

5 comments:

NormalToEatPB said...

All good points, what does Snookie have to offer those kids?

Vanilla Mama said...

Very good point - could not believe when I saw that about Snooky! Love the poem - I believe that literacy is so important, my Grandfather never loved to read and it was a huge handicap as he got older trying to care for my Grandmother with all her medications. I have also tutored a young man who did not learn to read until the 8th grade because of dyslexia - learning to read can change a life.

Inger said...

Thank you so much for this thoughtful post. I could not imagine my life without words, reading and writing. I spent my working years as an administrator at three universities and it seemed to me that in the 1970s we had some good programs that tried to do the right thing, but the good intentions sort of drifted away. And now with the budgets the way they are, I can only imagine how bad thing have gotten. A great post.--Inger

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Here Here. I agree with every point that you make. Sensationalism and hero worship is out of control in the U.S.A. Sn00ki and I hate to say it, but EVERYONE including authors, movie stars, and celebrities get paid way too much for what they do. The wealth in this country is concentrated amongst too few people and the middle class is all but disappearing. It's a tragic problem and I think it will eventually rot the U.S.A. from within as the undeserving are lauded millions of dollars while the hardworking middle-class that actually sustains the economy and pays the taxes caves-in. We shall become a society of serfs and queens.

Hold my hand: a social worker's blog said...

Very interesting discussion!

I love the poem :-)

Doris