My sister has two daughters. One is finishing her Master's in Social Work at the University of Chicago, where she earned her undergraduate degree as well. The other, who has just finished her degree in Applied Psychology at New York University, has applied to graduate schools and will have to choose between Columbia University, UCLA, and others. These are smart young women! (Much smarter than their Aunt Amy, I should add.) Much of their success is due to their own dedication, talent, and self-discipline, of course. And yet, when they were little, it seemed to me that they were destined to succeed. I used to joke that my sister, an elementary school teacher, started reading aloud to her girls before they were even born. Before they could walk, she took them on trips to the local library. When I hear bureaucrats talking about solving America's educational woes through testing and other gimmicks, I wonder why we don't just focus on reading. My sister had the right idea.
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