在芝加哥，这座美国最负盛名、最富裕的城市之一，2024年国家教育进展评估（National Assessment of Educational Progress，亦称“国家成绩单”）显示，仅有23%的四年级学生阅读成绩达到熟练或以上水平。另有53%的学生得分低于基础水平。
In Chicago, one of America’s prized and wealthiest cities, only 23 percent of its fourth graders scored proficient or higher in reading on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is also known as the Nation’s Report Card. Another 53% scored below basic.
这意味着四分之三的四年级学生无法展现扎实的阅读技能掌握程度，超过一半的学生甚至缺乏部分掌握能力。更糟糕的是，从四年级到八年级，阅读熟练率仅上升了四个百分点——从23%增至27%。尽管面对这些触目惊心的统计数据，教育工作者和家长却未发出警报——成绩有所提升的只是例外。
That means that three out of four fourth graders could not demonstrate solid command of reading skills, and more than half lacked even partial mastery. What is even worse is that the increase in reading proficiency from fourth grade to eighth grade was only four percentage points—from 23 percent to 27 percent. Despite having these damning statistics before them, the educators and parents raised no alarms—those who improved were the exception to the rule.
我在之前的“屋顶启示录”（Rooftop Revelations）节目中探讨过青少年识字问题，这仍然是我服务的青少年面临的最迫切问题。这些考试分数背后是一个个活生生的人。你会注意到，我还没有把种族因素引入这个问题。这些数字涵盖芝加哥所有学生。我们都受到教育标准下降的影响。
I have discussed youth literacy in previous Rooftop Revelations, and it remains the most pressing issue for the youth I serve. There are real humans behind these test scores. And you will notice that I did not bring race into this issue yet. Those numbers are for all of Chicago’s students. We are all affected by this decline in education standards.
一个孩子如果在三年级结束时仍无法熟练阅读，其无法按时高中毕业的可能性是熟练阅读者的四倍。对于生活在贫困中的儿童，这一数字更为严峻。这些孩子长大后能指望什么样的生活质量？凭常识我们都知道，识字能力有限的成年人面临更高的失业率，终身收入更低。他们实际上被排除在任何需要识字技能的工作之外。
A child who cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade is four times more likely to fail to graduate from high school on time than a proficient reader. The number is even worse for children who live in poverty. What kind of quality of life can these children expect as adults? We know from common sense that adults with limited literacy face higher unemployment and lower earnings over their lifetimes. They are literally shut out of any job that requires literacy as a skill.
我每天都能在芝加哥南区看到这场文盲危机造成的破坏。我看到年轻人连一份简单的求职申请表都填不出来。他们来到我的教堂寻求帮助。我还看到父母们无法阅读决定孩子能获得何种帮助的医疗报告。甚至连高中毕业生也有不识字的，我曾不得不帮他们阅读租赁合同，或是看懂主管发来的短信。
I see the damage from this illiteracy epidemic on the South Side of Chicago every day. I see young people who cannot fill out a simple job application. They come by my church for help. I see it in parents who cannot read medical reports that determine what help their children receive. I have even had to help people who graduated from high school without being able to read and cannot read a lease or understand a text message from a supervisor.
到了2026年，没有任何美国人应该需要别人帮忙完成这些简单的任务，难怪这么多人依然陷在贫困的恶性循环里，或者最终入狱。阅读是打开通往广阔世界大门的唯一技能。阅读能让任何人摆脱贫困，因为它是一项能用知识、精神和诀窍来丰富读者的技能。没有这项技能，如何去追求经济机会、个人自由和自己的梦想？
No American should need help with these simple tasks in 2026, and it is no wonder why so many stay trapped in the same cycle of poverty or end up in prison. Reading is the one skill that opens the door to the wider world. Reading can lift anyone from poverty, for it is a skill that enriches the reader with knowledge, spirit and know-how. Without this skill, how can one pursue economic opportunity, personal freedom and one’s dreams?
这种高水平的文盲率是我们城市的一种病症，可我们却把它当成背景噪音来对待。我们给无家可归、移民等许多其他问题的优先级都高于阅读。我绝不是在贬低那些问题。我只是想指出，这场文盲危机理应与那些问题同等重要，但现实并非如此。这也是为什么我们在唯一能给孩子通往更美好未来真正钥匙的技能上——即阅读能力——一次次失败的原因。
This high level of illiteracy is a disease within our city, and yet we treat it like background noise. We give so many other issues, like homelessness and immigration, a higher priority than reading. I’m not discounting those issues at all. I am simply making the point that this illiteracy crisis should rank up there, but it doesn’t. And that is why we continue to fail over and over on the one skill that gives children the real key to a better future: the ability I have kids of my own, and I am a very busy man with a congregation that depends on me at all hours of the day, but I know that teaching a child to read is not complicated.
我有自己的孩子，我是个非常忙碌的人，教区随时都需要我，但我知道教孩子识字并不复杂。
The science of reading has been settled for decades.
阅读科学几十年前就已定论。它始于自然拼读法。每个字母都要发出声音，我们教孩子如何将这些声音拼合成单词。我们每晚睡前都在家这么做，给孩子读书，然后让他们把单词拼读回给我们听。
It starts with phonics. Each letter is sounded out, and we teach the kids how to blend those sounds into words. We do this at home every night before bedtime, when we read to our children and then challenge them to sound out the words back to us. We do this every day, and schools that use these structured literacy programs see results.
我们每天都在这样做，采用这些结构化识字教学项目的学校都看到了成效。但在某个阶段，我们的学校认定基础教学过于简单，认为孩子们需要比拼读单词更高级的东西。他们错了。孩子们为此付出了代价。
But somewhere along the way, our schools decided that the fundamentals were too simple, that children needed something more sophisticated than learning to sound out words. They were wrong. The children paid for it. We must put the blame where it belongs, and most of it belongs at the feet of the parents.
我们必须把责任归到该归的地方，其中大部分责任在父母身上。如果你没有时间每晚睡前给孩子读书，就不要生孩子。这没有任何借口。
Do not have a child if you do not have the time to read to him or her every night before bed. There are no excuses for that. I blame the schools that pass along kids to the upper grades when they cannot read at grade level.
我指责那些把不会按年级水平阅读的孩子升到高年级的学校。任何人如果口称“这些孩子是我们的未来”却不重视阅读，就是问题的一部分。我们必须在追求识字教育上变得毫不留情，绝不能有任何借口。
Anybody who says that these kids are our future and does not stress reading is part of the problem. We must become merciless in our pursuit of literacy, and there should be no excuses. That is why I am working to open my own school alongside the Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center.
这就是为什么我正致力于与领导力与经济机会中心合办一所学校。我相信这所学校将为本社区树立新标杆，让学业优秀不再是例外，而是常态。我们将教导父母如何每晚给孩子读书。当他们看到这对孩子产生的效果，就会告诉其他家长。这就是运动的起点。当孩子们入读幼儿园时已经掌握了语音和字母，他们的老师会看到可能性，并渴望更多这样的成果。
I believe this school will set a new standard in this community, one where academic excellence is not the exception but the expectation. We will teach parents how to read to their children every night. When they see what it does for their kids, they will tell other parents. That is how a movement starts. When children arrive at kindergarten already knowing their sounds and their letters, their teachers will see what is possible and want more of it. I believe this can change the spirit of our community from the ground up.
我相信这能从根本上改变我们社区的精神面貌。我已看清愿景，正在付诸建设。
I can envision it. I am building it.