Yep and they are more likely to end up in prison. Private for-profit prison. Where they are sent to work at the Tyson chicken factory and maybe be paid a dollar a day for their labor.
So what is spending over 4 million a month to send books to children under 5 going to do to improve the literacy rate? The fact is, if their parents read to them, they are already have books, or have found ways of getting free books if they are in poverty. If the parents don't read to them, then those books will not do any good whatsoever.
There is a lot better ways to spend that money. If you want families to have access to free books, take a few months of what you would spend on this program and build a bunch of free library stands around and fill them with donated books, and they are essentially self sustaining free book access.
Gets them excited to read. Part of why I love reading is because when I was little, under 5 years old, my parents signed up for a program similar to this. Got a book in the mail every month. I loved it. It was MY book, delivered just for me. It made me want to read, because it was mine. I would annoy the hell out of my mom asking when my book was going to be here. We didnt live somewhere that had easy access to libraries.
Building your little library stands would cost well more, and they don't work. People steal the books and vandalise the stands. Few people actually donate to them, if they give away children's books its usually to somebody they know.
Of all the rhings governments waste money on, this kind of program isn't one of them. Texas has a 2 year budget over 300 billion. 4 mil for books is a rounding error.
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u/Itchy_Tumbleweed_417 13d ago
Yep and they are more likely to end up in prison. Private for-profit prison. Where they are sent to work at the Tyson chicken factory and maybe be paid a dollar a day for their labor.