California Reading Scores

Re “California Ranks Second to Last in U.S. Reading Test,” March 5: It is a mystery why so-called education experts do not say it like it is regarding poor California reading scores. It does not take an expert to notice that the top 10 states in reading are majority white states with small minority populations. The states at the bottom 10 have heavy minority student populations.

The problem, obviously, is not with minorities not being able to learn as well as whites. The problem is with the educational level of the parents, particularly the mother figure in the home. It is difficult, but not impossible, to overcome the model of illiterate parents. Homes without reading materials or adult reading examples provide a real hazard for children’s education. Spanish is not the problem; illiteracy is illiteracy in any language.

Education gurus in the state must come up with a better plan for schools to overcome illiteracy in the home. How about an adult literacy program for mothers of minority elementary-aged children and a free subscription to The Times?

LOUIS ROSEN

Pacific Palisades

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If only 20% of this state’s fourth-graders are proficient readers, how did the other 80% get passed from the third grade?

JOYCE CATES

Ventura

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I wonder how the reading scores would improve if the private schools were folded into the survey. I am assuming that a very large percentage of parents who don’t want their children attending classes with a majority of poor or non-English-speaking children are paying significant tuitions to ensure that they receive a level of education that ultimately fills the academic lists at this state’s top-flight four-year institutions.

JOHN H. NEWBY JR.

Los Angeles