Today is the birthday of Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac (b. March 12, 1922). Most people know him as Jack Kerouac, a noted brooding beat generation author.
Of relevance to teachers, Jack overcame what many educators refer to as an inadequate background for succeeding in a literate society.
His family had good and bad times. He did not learn to speak English until he was six years old. In today’s education jargon, he was an English as second language student.
Jack was educated in French-speaking Catholic parochial schools until he reached junior high, when he began his first experience learning entirely in English at the public schools in Lowell, MA.
Once Jack learned English, he began to read everything he could get his hands on, from conventional novels to pulp mysteries.
I like reading about how people like Jack become noted contributors to civilization. I wonder how many pulps (“non-literature” books, magazines and online equivalents) teachers use in classes to promote reading and possible major future contributions by ESL students and nonreaders.