+
upworthy
Most Shared

This life-or-death industry isn’t what you’re expecting. It’s children’s education.

True
First Book

Last year, librarian Rajeeni Galloway met a student that others had already deemed a lost cause.

This student's record was riddled with suspensions, and her grades had suffered so much that she could no longer keep up. She was failing.

Galloway knew all too well what was at risk if the student didn’t get help. She decided to step in.


Luckily, Galloway specializes in helping struggling kids, not just with their current classes, but also to identify and fill in the gaps from their earlier education. "Those early skills are so integral," she says. They can also be much harder to teach kids later in life.

Through intense work and mentoring, the student started to improve. Before long, she began to excel.

"Now she’s on the honor roll," Galloway says. In fact, she’ll be graduating this year — a full year ahead of schedule.

Galloway works hard to get her kids the resources they need to succeed. Photo courtesy of Rajeeni Galloway, used with permission.

This student was lucky. Many others don’t have access to this kind of help and support.

And, unlike Galloway’s students, their futures can be a lot bleaker.

Without the proper help, students’ educational struggles continue. They start to fail classes. Their frustrations build and they begin to act out. They get into trouble both in and out of school.

Ultimately, many kids who struggle drop out — and it only gets worse from there. Once a student fails academically, it often leads to failures throughout the rest of their life.

High school dropouts are three and a half times more likely to be arrested and eight times more likely to get jailed than people who get their degree. Young women who drop out of high school are nine times more likely to be or become single mothers. Dropouts are also more likely to end up on some sort of government assistance.

Galloway leads a class in the library. Photo by Washington Teacher's Union.

How do we prevent high school dropouts? Teach kids to read.

Early literacy in particular is important in keeping kids engaged in school through graduation, Galloway says.

That’s because kids who struggle with reading will struggle with concepts in every other subject, and by the time they’ve reached high school, their academic struggles have become a compound problem: one that started with reading but has now branched out to include every subject they encounter.

But with more than half of U.S. public school students coming from low-income families, many kids don’t have access to the tools they need in order to learn how to read in the first place.

Vast "book deserts," or low-income communities without bookstores or libraries, can mean that kids have literally no way to get their hands on a book — much less one that’s the right reading level for them. In some families, parents are too busy working to keep food on the table to read to their kids at night. Low-income kids simply don’t have what they need to start reading early.

Galloway's students love to read. Photo courtesy of Rajeeni Galloway, used with permission.

That’s why Galloway’s district works with First Book to make sure that kids are supported throughout their literacy journey.

To combat book deserts, First Book provides brand new books and resources at low or no cost to educators serving kids in need, so that income is never the reason a child doesn't have access to books.

Galloway’s school also provides resources for parents to provide academic nurturing at home. "We have parent workshops where parents come in, especially in elementary school, and we show parents different strategies to support students at home," she says.

In addition, First Book reports significant progress in increasing kids' interest in reading by making sure they provide not just any books, but books that are diverse and relevant, that speak to kids of all ages, and that help kids see the positivity reading can bring into their lives. When children can read, they can tap into their potential — no matter their circumstances.

Increasing access to books could be the first step to solving a lot of our nation’s most pressing social problems.

Most kids who don’t learn to read come from low-income backgrounds, and, as Galloway’s teaching experience shows, those who never learn to read are at risk of remaining stuck in that cycle of poverty.

By increasing access to books and reading resources at a young age, organizations like First Book could be helping solve not just the literacy issue, but also issues like income inequality, incarceration, welfare dependency, and more, which are deeply connected to early literacy and education.

So next time you see a kid with a book, know that it’s not just for fun. Sometimes, it’s for survival.

Millions of children from low-income areas don’t have the tools needed to learn, placing them at a disadvantage that perpetuates poverty. First Book is a community that believes education is the way out of poverty for kids in need.

True

After over a thousand years of peaceful relations, European semi-superpowers Sweden and Switzerland may finally address a lingering issue between the two nations. But the problem isn’t either country’s fault. The point is that the rest of the world can’t tell them apart. They simply don’t know their kroppkakor (Swedish potato dumpling) from their birchermüesli (a Swiss breakfast dish).

This confusion on the European continent has played out in countless ways.

Swedish people who move to the United States often complain of being introduced as Swiss. The New York Stock Exchange has fallen victim to the confusion, and a French hockey team once greeted their Swiss opponents, SC Bern, by playing the Swedish National Anthem and raising the Swedish flag.

Skämtar du med mig? (“Are you kidding me?” in Swedish)

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

Mom comes out to her 7-year-old as a sexual assault survivor. The discomfort was worth it.

Sometimes speaking our truth can help history from repeating itself.

Canva

Almost all the important conversations are uncomfortable

Sarah Shanley Hope's story is frighteningly common.

As a kid, she went over to her neighbor's house one day to play with her best friend. While there, her friend's older brother sexually assaulted both of them.

Hope was only 6 years old.

Keep ReadingShow less
Humor

Woman shares wedding album her mom made that’s making people crack up

The photos were beautiful, but there was something hilariously wrong with the captions.

Woman's wedding gift from her mom is making people laugh.

There's no denying that a wedding day is a special memory most people want to hold onto for the rest of their lives. It's the reason people spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on wedding pictures and hand out disposable cameras to guests—to capture memories from all angles, including behind-the-scenes moments that you may forget due to the nerves beforehand.

One mother of the bride decided to take her daughter's beautiful wedding photos and create a special personalized photo album. But upon further inspection of the gift, the bride noticed that something was amiss. Niki Hunt, told Good Morning America that when her mom, Sherry Noblett, gave her the wedding album at brunch, she admitted she may have messed up.

"She’s very crafty, so usually when she says something like that, it’s something really small. I'm thinking some of the pictures are askew, or whatever," Hunt explained to GMA.

Keep ReadingShow less

It all can happen at just the right time.

Media outlets love to compile lists of impressive people under a certain age. They laud the accomplishments of fresh-faced entrepreneurs, innovators, influencers, etc., making the rest of us ooh and ahh wonder how they got so far so young.

While it's great to give credit where it's due, such early-life success lists can make folks over a certain age unnecessarily question where we went wrong in our youth—as if dreams can't come true and successes can't be had past age 30.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mental Health

The danger of high-functioning depression as told by a college student

Overachievers can struggle with mental health issues, too.


I first saw a psychiatrist for my anxiety and depression as a junior in high school.

During her evaluation, she asked about my coursework. I told her that I had a 4.0 GPA and had filled my schedule with pre-AP and AP classes. A puzzled look crossed her face. She asked about my involvement in extracurricular activities. As I rattled off the long list of groups and organizations I was a part of, her frown creased further.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Her boyfriend asked her to draw a comic about their relationship. Hilarity ensued.

The series combines humor and playful drawings with spot-on depictions of the intense familiarity that long-standing coupledom often brings.

All images by Catana Chetwynd


"It was all his idea."

An offhand suggestion from her boyfriend of two years coupled with her own lifelong love of comic strips like "Calvin and Hobbes" and "Get Fuzzy" gave 22-year-old Catana Chetwynd the push she needed to start drawing an illustrated series about long-term relationships.

Specifically, her own relationship.

Keep ReadingShow less