David Chalk, who has had a successful career developing and promoting technologies, told people what his life as a non-reader was like for more than 50 years. His passionate recounting of schooling as a process of recurring humiliation, posted to YouTube in December 2021, will provoke many different emotions in viewers. He also tells his story about learning to read when he was in his 60s.

Like many entreprenuers, Mr. Chalk has experienced both the highs (selling a company for fabulous amounts of money) and the lows (bankruptcy) in business and financial realms. To hear him tell the story, however, his education experiences were horrific…still, he argues that his experience points the way to changing education and the world.

There are aspects of Mr. Chalk’s account that may elicit an urge to challenge some particular assertions of his story. They probably won’t overshadow Mr. Chalk’s point that not being able to read had profound untoward influences on him. It’s a first-person account, so our standards shouldn’t be set to evaluate the report by those of experimental science.

See the video of Mr. Chalk’s story, which amounts to a preview for a forthcoming film called “The Truth About Reading: The Invisible Crisis Hiding In Plain Sight.”

Mr. Chalk has spoken about his experiences for other organizations such as the Center for Literacy and Learning. Readers can find more about that particular event, should they be interested.

If the audio does not sync properly, you can manage by simply listening. Also, hat tip to Emily Hanford (@ehnaford) for alerting me to the YouTube video.

Share