Friday, February 10, 2023

The Right To Read (2023) Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2023


This is a magnificent documentary on the need to teach people to learn to read. 

We are as a society failing to teach kids how to read. The methods currently being used are not working and the majority of kids, especially non white ones, are failing to be able to read. The methods that we have been using over the past few decades have been failing our kids, however there are some people who are fighting back and trying to change things so that our children can read.

One of the best and most important documentaries of the year grabs us by the throat in the opening minutes and never lets us go. Perhaps it's not as violent as that, because THE RIGHT TO READ is the best sort of documentary, namely one that taps us on the shoulder with the intention of telling us something special and then, without histrionics and big shows of emotion has convinced us that we need to see things differently.  I am a huge advocate for teaching kids to read but this film really set a fire under my butt.

The two main things one can take away from the film is that literacy starts in the home. Parents need to be involved and help kids actually begin to grasp reading skills as soon as possible.  The other is that the way we are teaching kids isn't working. Other methods such as those used by Sesame Street and The Electric Company where we learned sounds and phonics work better.

What a great film on every level. Technically this is how to make a documentary. 

I can't recommend this film enough.

Highly recommended.

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