School Reading Programs

I do not believe that children are being exposed to a variety of literature at early ages. I was lucky to have read many classic stories and award winning books when I was growing up. That was not because I was to read them in class, but because my mom exposed them to me. In my hometown, the public school library has the read up program in place for younger students. There are many books for these kids to read, but even with this program in place I do not believe that children are reading on their own reading level, and children are not able to engage in discussion of the books with this program. I use my sister as an example because she never took an interest in reading. She is in eighth grade now and I don't think she has been exposed to many books in the public school system like I was at the private school I attended. I feel there is a need for teachers to read to their students and not have lessons based exclusively on the Taks test.