Read or Else | Ty Allan Jackson | TEDxBerkshires

66% of children who can not read proficiently by the 4th grade will end up incarcerated or on welfare.
85% of teens who go thorough the judicial system are functionally illiterate.
70% of prison inmates can not read above a 4th grade level.
75% of all welfare recipients are functionally illiterate.
Your teenage daughter is 6 times more likely to become pregnant if her reading level is below the 4th grade.
In this talk, author, literacy advocate, and entrepreneur, Ty Allan Jackson, illuminates the solution to these problems and what each one of us can do. Ty Allan Jackson is a children’s book author, publisher, community leader, literacy advocate and motivational speaker. Ty travels across the country empowering children of all ages about the joy and power of reading. His books have been used by companies such as Google, The YMCA, The Boys and Girls Club, The United Way as well as numerous financial institutions and countless schools across the country. He is also the co-founder of the Read Or Else movement, created to shine a light on the problem of illiteracy and to provide books to children in homeless shelters across America. Ty has three amazing children who are the source of his inspiration. Ty was born and raised in the Bronx, NY but now proudly calls Pittsfield, Massachusetts home. You can learn more about Ty and his mission to promote literacy at BigHeadBooks.com and ReadOrElse.com This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@lisasullivan1175]

Thank you! What an inspiring "Talk" it reminds me of why I loved the library so much when I was growing up and inspires me to introduce more children to the wonders of books. I have often said that I have traveled the world through books and I have!

[@WinnieWilliams-k1u]

This is Ms.Winnifred Williams

[@burleybater]

To spend your life walled off from the written word is to already be in prison before you ever get there. Books offer knowledge. They are the building blocks of learning. Not real education ever happens without them. They offer freedom, but also of an interesting sort. They are an intimate and private engagement between an author and a reader. One that can go beyond politics, social pressure, conformist and coercive ideology, or any other factor that can get in the way of a reader understanding many things, because books can be great teachers. No other medium ever offered all this, in this way. Only books do. They can turn into a lifetime habit. An entire lifetime spent learning new things. Children can and should learn to read and take up the habit of reading primarily due to one factor above all others. Their innate curiosity. The urge to want to know, to find out, to understand, and to satisfy themselves in their own way, according to what appeals to them. So much to read. So little time. Each book is one single step along a path that is the way out......of a dark existence that is what illiteracy does....extinguishes the light. And by the way - that clip of that man reading to his child (and the responses you shared afterward) that was one profoundly emotional moment. Knowledge is truly powerful, I agree - but sharing that power with loved ones takes it up a little higher.

[@WinnieWilliams-k1u]

Very Interesting

[@reginaburgio7829]

What an amazing presentation! The statistics on illiteracy are chilling. So impressed with Ty Allen's talk and the important work he is doing in our communities. Thank you!

[@tippygraham]

I agree with your topic! I’ve come from a long lineage of readers in my family. It was encouraged to read as much as possible. During my graduate studies, my major professor made a comment that has remained steadfast with me. “You should always have an active library card.” And of course, i keep an active library card. Good stuff!

[@jonettheonly]

I read and I still do drugs :p

[@Lo-jy4re]

The need for this talk to be heard seems to be more important than ever in the omnipresent social media age. Kids will know the names of multiple TikTok “stars” (and I use quotes very purposely🙄) but can they name multiple book titles they’ve recently read or favor? Parents need to get the phones and iPads out of their kids faces already. It’s gotten out of hand! Additionally, their image belongs nowhere near the internet or social media. Protect their innocence and right to become literate and not emotionally dependent and self-identifying with a fading digital trend that will give them nothing of actual value in the long term (or short term for that matter in my opinion). Every child deserves that at the very least!

[@ursoulspure]

Awesome! Hope Danny Dollar Academy is doing well. More schools need to replace home economics with personal finance. Love the idea of participants reading stories to their children. Amazing way to spread and inspire literacy as well as leaving a beautiful legacy for their families. Thank you!