I think this discussion required a lot more nuance. As a former educator of kids with dyslexia, I know that plenty of children would never just decide to try to learn to read on their own, and that parents are unequipped to try to help a lot of these kids if the get to middle grades and suddenly realize they missed out on learning a critical life skill. It's a LOT harder to learn as an adult, especially if you have a learning disability. Adults who cannot read at a middle school level or higher will struggle their entire lives with basic executive functioning, like communicating, learning about current events, applying for benefits, consenting to medical procedures in an informed way, the list goes on and on. Parents who don't prioritize teaching their kids to read are taking AWAY their kids' freedom.
That being said, I left the education profession because I truly felt like my entire job was teaching neurodivergent kids to mask. It fed into a lot of internalized ableism that I'm working hard to overcome. I don't want my own kids to become compulsive perfectionists /people pleasers like I did due to autistic masking.
I think this discussion required a lot more nuance. As a former educator of kids with dyslexia, I know that plenty of children would never just decide to try to learn to read on their own, and that parents are unequipped to try to help a lot of these kids if the get to middle grades and suddenly realize they missed out on learning a critical life skill. It's a LOT harder to learn as an adult, especially if you have a learning disability. Adults who cannot read at a middle school level or higher will struggle their entire lives with basic executive functioning, like communicating, learning about current events, applying for benefits, consenting to medical procedures in an informed way, the list goes on and on. Parents who don't prioritize teaching their kids to read are taking AWAY their kids' freedom.
That being said, I left the education profession because I truly felt like my entire job was teaching neurodivergent kids to mask. It fed into a lot of internalized ableism that I'm working hard to overcome. I don't want my own kids to become compulsive perfectionists /people pleasers like I did due to autistic masking.
I'm open to hearing others' thoughts about this.