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Actor and producer LeVar Burton is famous for many things. His iconic roles on “Star Trek” and “Roots” miniseries, for example. But most of us know him as the host of PBS’s “Reading the Rainbow.” His run with the show ended in the mid-2000s, but Burton is still promoting literacy to children.
He is now the “Chief Reading Officer” of Baiju Osmo, an ed-tech company. Together, they are launching a reading program for 5- to 7-year-olds that uses artificial intelligence and speech recognition on the iPad and the Osmo app to teach children the basics of reading. This program is going to start next month.
The Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams asked Burton about the unique reading challenges facing children today. The following is an edited transcript of their speech.
LeVar Burton: There are legions of distractions that can pull a child from the journey toward literacy. So it’s a very active, often confusing, kind of cacophonous world that kids have to pay attention to and learn these basic guidelines for reading. And anything we can do to help them focus on using their natural talents, inclinations, and curiosity in ministry. Learning to read, I’m in.
Kimberly Adams: But does it matter where and how a child reads? I was talking to a school teacher on the plane, and she said she had some concerns about kids only reading on these small screens as opposed to on a larger screen. Does it really make a difference if a child reads a physical book on a tablet as opposed to a phone?
Burton: That’s a really complicated question, Kimberly, because there’s the issue of how much screen time is appropriate for a child. Having said that, I simply want kids to read, okay? And parents always ask me, how can I get my child to read more? And I generally ask them two questions. One, do your children see you reading? Because it’s the most important example, modeling, that lets a child know exactly how important reading activities are to their parents. The second question I ask you is what does your child like the most? Because it is our desire that drives our desire to read. So if your kid loves superheroes, then, damn it, buy your kid comic books. And if their only access to literature is through a device, that’s what we use.
Adams: As a child I was obsessed with books. I mean I go through dozens during the summer. But this summer I had my 12-year-old niece and 10-year-old niece come down for a visit, and I love throwing books at them trying to get them interested, and they’re not much for reading.[Instagram]Reels or prefer to watch social media clips.
Burton: yes.
Adams: And I wonder how you can get kids into long stories. And I want you to love the written word as much as I do.
Burton: If you need to use the technology engagement factor I know in this world, we will. Because that’s what they know. Still, in the 80s, American kids were sitting in front of the TV, that’s why we went to TV. But today’s kids, they’re digital natives, Kimberly, and we need to use that to our advantage. It should be our entry point because the purpose always meets them where they are.
Adams: We know that there are large gaps in literacy by race and income. And we know technology can be as expensive as a tablet. So how can we make sure these devices like Osmo are accessible to the kids who need them most?
Burton: The digital divide is real. I know, Osmo knows that and we’re doing everything we can to make the device part of the equation and ubiquitous. That’s where the technology is going. And for those who don’t have a tablet, there is a free app that allows you to access the service online at the start of the trip.
Adams: As you talk to parents and caregivers and encourage them to try new technologies to get kids more involved in reading, what about parents who are buzzing about things like artificial intelligence and tracking and their kids’ privacy? Spending so much time on these devices, and so many apps and things can be hacked and where can that data go?
Burton: Acknowledged. There are traps, there are dangers. However, I want to be perfectly clear, I am using this technology with a trusted partner. I stand by my name. And I stand by the decades I’ve spent on this job. And if I didn’t think this was a valuable solution for kids and parents, I wouldn’t be here.
Adams: I’m sure you hear this all the time. But I grew up watching “Reading Rainbows,” and when I told my sister this morning that I’m talking to you, she literally burst into the song, and it started to fade.
Burton: I love it, I love it.
Adams: But, someone like you who has spent decades around children’s education, and especially being a black person in this space, was wondering out loud how you feel about the impact of what you’re seeing, and are you looking at it the way you see it?
Burton: Well, every day of my life, I meet someone like you and your sister who grew up on the show and report to me that it had a powerful and positive impact on their lives. A few generations ago, it would have been illegal to have the gift of writing, right? He will surely be punished by whipping. Death, maybe. An English teacher’s son raising a black man, to become a symbol of literacy in this country. I cannot tell you the depth of pride that brings me and my family.
Children’s literacy is not only about reading skills, but access to books is an increasingly political issue. American Library Association It reported nearly 730 book challenges in 2021, the highest number since the organization began tracking them in 2000.
NBC News has a piece detailing the impact on e-reader app companies like Overdrive and Epic and school districts as these services make books about LGBTQ+ issues available to kids.
But there are still e-book services for students across the country.
The Brooklyn Public Library has a Books Unbanned project where students ages 13 to 21 from anywhere in the country can sign up for a national BPL card and borrow e-books on banned works. Like Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” or Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”.
LeVar Burton responded to those bans in an interview on the television show “The View.” What he said at first was words I can’t include here, but the bans were “shameful” to our country.
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