When you think back to being a child in elementary school, what do you remember about writing-? Those simpler days, sitting in vibrantly curated classrooms – classmates laughing at desks, chatting amongst themselves in hushed voices as everyone wrote short stories that would be graded at a later time. Every holiday brought new themes, new forms of prompts and styles were learned as you progressed up through higher grades. Sure, not everyone enjoyed it, but in the end, you still did it. Writing is one of the most important parts of a young kid’s education; as a species that passes information often through written form, writing is an essential skill to learn if you want to be able to function in our highly complex world. That is why as a society it should be highly alarming that literacy and writing skills amongst the youth generation is rapidly declining. While it’s not known specifically what’s causing this sudden drop, there’s certainly speculation as to what might be contributing to this issue. Multiple studies have been conducted around the world, and with just a quick Google search, a few possible culprits can be seen.
Number one on the list, which you probably expected, is sadly technology and everything that comes with it. I say sadly, because the invention of accessible technology was supposed to make information and education that much more accessible. However, that’s only if it’s used and facilitated responsibly. When technology was first introduced, there were absolutely no studies yet conducted on it. The stuff was new, novel, and exciting, and was rushed into the hands of the public by hungry corporations looking to make bank. From there, the rest is history. Parents give their children tablets willy-nilly, and it’s more common now to see kids on tech, playing games like Candy Crush or other brainrot idiocies than reading a book.
Despite this obvious and highly talked about topic, there’s another major factor that experts don’t speak on as much – that being the lack of access to adequate education. Despite being necessary to function as a member of society in our modern world, the topic of education access has long been a problem in the United States. As a highly developed country, you’d think that we’d have some of the best education to offer for all children across the nation; sadly though, this isn’t true. Educational inequality has long been an issue in these lands, the source of which stems back to colonial times. Back then, really only the children of rich white people were provided with proper education; with people of color and indigenous populations rarely if at all getting basic religious instruction. As times continued to progress, and while our country slowly had the playing grounds evened out, the systemic classism and racism unfortunately had already perpetrated too deep. The people of society deemed as ‘lesser’ were all funneled into areas of poverty, the very government itself allowing this to happen – and so, systemic issues from our founding still to this day bar many from having access to education.
It of course it doesn’t help either that there has been a rise in lack of government funding for our schools, and a shortage of teachers due to many outside factors. Regardless, it all compounds into there being the issue that children aren’t getting the proper education they need and deserve. These issues in turn have caused a drop in reading skills, writing skills, reading comprehension, speech, and so much more. As something that forms so early into a child’s development and is so vital to human function, this is obviously a very alarming dilemma – especially since these skills are needed for more than just to function in society. Reading and writing have long since been one of humanity’s oldest arts. Being able to do so has allowed us to express emotions, tell stories, and share knowledge. For children, these basic skills allow them to have a healthy outlet to process emotions, understand things around them, and helps to foster a creative imagination and mind.
With such a large issue, you would think that people would want to do something to change this, and of course we as humans do want something done. That, my dear friends, is where Kiddie Authors Organization comes into play. Founded by Sabrina Dukhon, Kiddie Authors is a nonprofit organization that aims to provide kids aged 7-12 with supplemental classes and workshops aimed and focused around strengthening their writing skills. Based in Bucks County and Montgomery County Pennsylvania, workshops are most often hosted at local libraries and other public spaces, where everyone is welcome.
As an intern in the Social Media and Marketing Department of the nonprofit, I have witnessed first hand the ingenuity and creativity of such workshops. Often they are proctored in the form of fun games and activities – because after all, what better way is there to get kids excited to learn? New and interactive experiences are constantly being planned, making every workshop a one-of-a-kind experience for the children. While we are still a small group now, Kiddie Authors Organization aims to hopefully one day spread its positive influence far and wide, and to make education surrounding writing accessible to everyone. As our founder Sabrina once said, we are simply “Looking for every child’s inner author”.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for taking interest in Kiddie Authors. As a nonprofit, we’re always looking for new volunteers. If you are a college student at Arcadia or any other school, please feel free to reach out! Contact information will be included down below, as will further material from the organization. I will also include further resources about the decline of access to education, and other such subjects which Kiddie Authors Organization aims to combat. Thank you so much for your time!
Contact Information:
Sabrina Dukhon
Email – kiddieauthors@gmail.com
Instagram – @kiddieauthors.organization
Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_inequality_in_the_United_States#:~:text=Unequal%20
https://educationonline.ku.edu/community/how-usa-education-measures-up-worldwide#:~:text=
https://cepr.harvard.edu/news/scary-truth-about-how-far-behind-american-kids-have-fallen
Feature Image credit to Sabrina Dukhon, Founder of Kiddie Authors Organization
