The Researcher's Perspective: The Purpose of Education, Free Voluntary Reading, and Dealing with The Impact Of Poverty

Abstract

"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." Pablo Picasso. As we mature, we find our unique talents and interests, develop them, and discover how to use them to help others. Among the ways school can help in this process is to encourage free voluntary reading, an extremely pleasant activity. This cannot happen, however, without access to books and other reading material. Unfortunately, children of poverty have little access to books: Often, their only source of books is the library.