PBH Starts Roxbury Book Program

Phillips Brooks House yesterday announced a new "book exposure" program designed to introduce Roxbury elementary students to the pleasures of reading. The program is being financed initially by the Massachusetts Council for Public Schools, Inc., a private organization dedicated to improving Boston schools.

According to James M. Perrin '64, head of the project, 12 Harvard and Radcliffe volunteers are presently working with a total of 110 students. These include two fourth-grade classes at the Dearborn School and eight small groups for 10-and 13-year-olds at the Roxbury Boys Club and the Norfolk House Center. The volunteers will give the students books and try to stimulate their interest in reading with discussions and projects.

Scope to be Enlarged

The scope of the project will be enlarged every year in order to produce a "significant behavior change." The original children will continue in the program while a new group of fourth-graders will be started each year.

Harold C. Martin, Director of General Education Ahf and a member of the Advisory Committee for the project, said he considered it "a low-cost enterprise which might yield distinctive results in a short time." "The program is working on the hypothesis that with sufficient exposure, there will be a significant change," he said.

Dean Monro, also a member of the Advisory Committee, said he felt the PBH program was a "really important pilot project."

Harvard became concerned five years ago with the problems youngsters from weak schools have because of an early lack of reading encouragement. The Admissions office investigated the possibility of setting up a remedial program, but found that if professional workers were used, the cost would be prohibitive.

'Project Will Snowball'

Last fall the University suggested the program to PBH, which has been working on it for a year. "We have here mechanism for multiplying this type of project across the country," Monro said. "This project may be small but hopefully it will snowball on other college campuses across the nation."

Philanthropic foundations have been slow to offer their support, however. PHB has only the one-year grant from the Massachusetts Committee, which is enough to start the program, but only on a tight budget--$21,320 for four years.

To cut costs, PHB hops to get publishing houses to donate paperback books.

Perrin said the long-range goals of the PBH project include proving that college volunteers can be helpful in the public schools and that "kids can't be divided at the age of ten."