Appalachian hill country pulling their children out of literacy classes

 Op-Ed Columnist

Profiting From a Child’s Illiteracy

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: December 7, 2012

¶ THIS is what poverty sometimes looks like in America: parents here in Appalachian hill country pulling their children out of literacy classes. Moms and dads fear that if kids learn to read, they are less likely to qualify for a monthly check for having an intellectual disability.

¶Many people in hillside mobile homes here are poor and desperate, and a $698 monthly check per child from the Supplemental Security Income program goes a long way — and those checks continue until the child turns 18.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/opinion/sunday/kristof-profiting-from-a-childs-illiteracy.html?ref=opinion&_r=1&#h[]