I thank God that when I was attending public school, and I was having problems concentrating, learning, and without self-control, that my parents made a lot of effort to get me to buckle down...
My dad tutored me in math as we sat at our kitchen table. My mom would keep after me to do my homework.
After my mother passed away and my dad tried his best to raise me, he found it necessary to lecture me frequently about staying in school. I had, at the time, begun to cut classes and play hooky (skip classes at school). When my dad found out about this, he was very upset and disappointed. But he did his best to keep after me, and in 1971 I did finish high school without my having to repeat certain classes.
Sadly, however, here in prison I've met hundreds of inmates who could barely read or write. Having an education means something. We need it to get ahead in this world and to get a decent job. When it is time for a man to leave prison, he has to leave with an education. An inmate should at least get a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) before he walks out the door, if possible.
The tragedy is that many prisoners still do not try to learn. Just like I once did, they have problems concentrating; they lack self-discipline, too.
Many of these men have trouble writing a legible letter. What chance will a man have once he's released and is sent back into such a technologically advanced world?
D.B.
After my mother passed away and my dad tried his best to raise me, he found it necessary to lecture me frequently about staying in school. I had, at the time, begun to cut classes and play hooky (skip classes at school). When my dad found out about this, he was very upset and disappointed. But he did his best to keep after me, and in 1971 I did finish high school without my having to repeat certain classes.
Sadly, however, here in prison I've met hundreds of inmates who could barely read or write. Having an education means something. We need it to get ahead in this world and to get a decent job. When it is time for a man to leave prison, he has to leave with an education. An inmate should at least get a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) before he walks out the door, if possible.
The tragedy is that many prisoners still do not try to learn. Just like I once did, they have problems concentrating; they lack self-discipline, too.
Many of these men have trouble writing a legible letter. What chance will a man have once he's released and is sent back into such a technologically advanced world?
D.B.
