Private School
Swan, Kaari (2010-03-11)
>> KAARI SWAN:  Hi there. Hey folks!
[Laughter]
>> KAARI SWAN: Sorry, I'm silly. I am Kaari. I'm 25 years old. I went to college for two years at Ohio State. I didn't graduate, I didn't know what I wanted to do, and my parents were like hey, stop wasting our money. So, took a couple years off. I'm back at school at Columbus State studying hospitality management. I really love it. And yeah, hey!
>>INTERVIEWER: Alright, hey Kaari. So can you tell me how literacy has affected your life? Either positively or negatively.
>> KAARI SWAN: Okay, well I feel like reading has been a very positive part in my life. I didn't grow up in the hood. I grew up in the suburbs. I went to the private schools. I hung out with the rich people. So I learned how to read at a very young age and I've loved it ever since. I'm always buried in a book. Unfortunately lately I haven't been reading a lot because I've been working a lot. I still love it.
>>INTERVIEWER: Renegade server.
>> KAARI SWAN: Renegade server. I feel very well-rounded because I read so much about so many different things. For example, I'm definitely music literate; I play the flute, so I can read music. I like to read about music. I like to read about jazz or I like to read about classical. I like the history of music. I took some classes at Ohio State. They were awesome. I loved them; I aced them because I love it. So it's really, really cool for that. 
I like to read a lot about sex and people. People are like oh, you just like to read the porno magazines and bust out them playboys. No, not quite. It's not quite like that. I literally like to read about it. It's not just about the positions; it's about literally the physical aspects of it. It's about the chemistry in a man's body and in a woman's body. So I learned a lot from that too and it's pretty sweet.
>>INTERVIEWER: Interesting reading.
>> KAARI SWAN: Yeah! It makes for some fun reading bedtime stories. Love it.
[Laughter]
>>INTERVIEWER:  Okay so do you think that since you went to private school and different things and have a different perspective than maybe some other people?
>> KAARI SWAN: I definitely do. I was maybe one of ten other black people in my class. So it's not like I was, yeah so I definitely was the minority. And a lot of the other African American people, young African American people that I come across, I mean a lot of them aren't in school. A lot of them aren't even knowledgeable about just little things like what's going on in the country, like they don't understand how the economies work and stuff like that. So I feel like because I read, even if it's just little things like the news I feel...young black people don't really keep up with that.
>>INTERVIEWER: Why do you think that is?
>> KAARI SWAN: I think part of it is maybe they don't have the resources. I think maybe the kids who might have grown up in the hood in the lower income areas don't have the resources and don't have things like internet. They don't buy things like newspapers and things like that. They don't watch the news because for lack of a better way to put it, some of them are out in the streets and they're not...like nobody's guiding them, nobody's pushing them to get into stuff like that.
>>INTERVIEWER: So how do you think literacy pertains to that exactly, like how do you think that could help or we can improve upon that? It's definitely important and you're obviously passionate about it. 
>> KAARI SWAN: Yeah I definitely think it's an issue. That's a really tough question just because you could say something like get some more after school programs, get some more boys and girls clubs things put in the city for kids who grow up in the urban area to get some reading and get some tutoring even for school. Even they're in school and I feel like teachers don't put in the extra, especially the city schools, they don't put in the extra effort to help these kids with the reading. 
>>INTERVIEWER: So you think like the private school, they pushed you more and supported you more so you became...
>> KAARI SWAN: I was very well prepared. The curriculum, I've noticed a huge difference in the curriculum between public schools and private schools. And I'm not saying public schools are worse or anything like that because I know several people that went to public schools and they're going to places like colleges like Georgetown and stuff like that, really good places. So they're not all bad, but as far as Columbus goes, I just feel like the school system is lacking majorly. I feel that the black kids aren't getting the sort of education and the sort of reading materials that I feel like they could be.
>>INTERVIEWER: Well, what do you think, what did you use that helped you along in your reading as far as what material stuck with you I guess?
>> KAARI SWAN: I liked fiction, so a lot of it was about just reading fun books. Like I read Madeleine L'Engel, A Wrinkle in Time was like a major book for me. I did read more serious things like the Diary of Anne Frank, and other stuff like that. But I liked fiction so that's what really kept me into it. And yeah, I've been reading since I was like 4 or 5.
>>INTERVIEWER: So you think the literacy was more focused on, you think it helped making people more well-rounded in a broader sense. I don't want to put words in your mouth. Is that maybe?
>> KAARI SWAN: Well that's how it's helped me, like that's what it's done for me. And I feel like it can be that way for other people if you just do what you need, like I don't know how to put it any better. And one of the other girls that I work with, Colleen, she just started teaching and she was talking about the other day how she's got these kids that are in the 7th grade and they're at a 2nd grade reading level. I mean she had to teach this child how to read the number three hundred and fifty seven. And I mean she's 13 years old. 
So I'm not blaming it entirely on the school systems, but I had a lot of encouragement from my family too. My grandmother always bought me books, she was a teacher, so after school I would go in her classroom and I would read every single book that she had. After two months she would have to get new books because I'd read them all.
So I think the teachers in the schools could be doing some things, getting some more interesting reading materials, because I know how it is when I have to read a book and I hate it. I read for pleasure, I hate reading when I have to. I do it, but I hate it. So I feel like they provided some more materials. Now the kids in the libraries, I know it sounds lame, but libraries are sweet. I love them!
[Laughter]
>>INTERVIEWER: Well thanks, dude.
>> KAARI SWAN: You're welcome!