Ursula K. Le Guin Quotes
Do you know how to read?" "No. It is one of the black arts." He nodded. "But a useful one," he said.
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Tombs of Atuan. Atheneum, 1971.
Lehner had led the passage of a law that prohibited promotion beyond the 3rd grade unless the student is reading at grade level. However, the Ohio legislature did not vote the funds to even provide preschool for more than one-fourth of Ohio children where the foundation for reading is laid. Data from studies had shown that not promoting children for any reason greatly increases the likelihood of later dropout. However, Senator Lehner thought that the existence of the law would force the schools and the local districts to devote more resources and effort to teaching reading and the overall effect would be to save more students than will be lost.
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the Earthsea fantasy series. She was first published in 1959, and her literary career spanned nearly sixty years, yielding more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories, in addition to poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books. Frequently described as an author of science fiction, Le Guin has also been called a "major voice in American Letters". Le Guin herself said she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist".
