READING SCHOOL DOUBLES ENROLL 45,307 GRADUATES THIS YEAR
For Teaching Rapid Reading
School Teacher Discovers New Technique
AVERAGE GRADUATE READS MORE THAN 1,500 WORDS PER MINUTE FREE DEMONSTRATION AND LECTURE
The nationally known Reading Dynamics schools have just posted their greatest increase in their nine year history, with enrollments increasing from 20,000 in 1965 to a total of 45,307 graduates in 1966. The school now operates permanent classrooms in over 80 cities in the United States, serving approximately 300 communities
ties.
"I didn't invent fast reading, I just discovered it." These words of Evelyn Wood sum up the history of the development of the Wood Method. It was Mrs. Wood's discovery, 18 years ago, of the 6000-word-per-minute reading speed of her professor at the University of Utah that triggered today's overwhelming interest in fast reading.
REGIONAL OFFICE EXPANDS TO 55 CITIES WITH PROJECTED ENROLLMENTS OF OVER 6,000
TIME MAGAZINE says:
"Washington has seen nothing like it. Teddy the read when Tiedo Roosevelt read three books a day and ran the country at the same time."
Over the past eleven years more than 200,000 graduates including many of our nation's legislations have taken this course. They are convinced that the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics Institute method is the most significant educational breakthrough since the printed page.
clusion. Says Mrs. Wood, "With our method we can teach the average reader to read from three to 10 times faster with equal or improved comprehension.
Mrs. Wood's curiosity caused her to look for other exceptional readers, and over the next few years, she found 50 people who could read faster than 1500 words per minute, with fine comprehension, outstanding recall and great satisfaction in reading.
EDITORIAL
Fast Reading Alone Not Enough
from Carl H. Peterson,
Regional Director
"But reading is a waste of time, slow or fast, if you don't understand what you are reading," stated Mrs. Wood. "if you aren't comprehending, you aren't reading."
She was now sure it was possible to read faster than anyone had thought, and the question of how these people did it was not yet answered. It took 18 years of toil and research, working with "natural" fast readers, before she began to find the answers. Her quest led her to experiment with students at the Jordan High School in Jordan, Utah, where she was the English teacher and girls counselor. Eventually a technique was developed whereby the average student was able to learn to read 3 to 10 times faster. She taught her method at the University of Utah for three years, refining it even further. Further studies were conducted at the University of Delaware, and the first Reading Dynamics Institute was opened in Washington. D.C. in September, 1959. Since that time Institutes have been opened all over the country, and many authorities have accepted Mrs. Wood's basic conclusion
Mrs. Wood also was critical of skimming techniques commonly used in speed reading courses and informs her teachers that they must increase comprehension at the same time they are achieving high speeds. She said, "Skipping words is dangerous, as you don't know whether or not you have skipped a word which could change the whole meaning of the sentence. You read five times faster, not by reading every fifth word, but by reading five times as many words in the same amount of time. It is impossible to tell which words to skip or disregard until you have seen them all and determined their relative importance and meaning."
Senators Enthusiastic
Senate leaders and many outstanding businessmen and educators have praised the Evelyn Wood method. "I must say that this is one of the most useful educational experiences I have ever had.
It certainly compares favorably with theexperiences I've had at Yale and Harvard," says Senator Pomirem of Wisconsin. "It is my opinion that if these techniques were instituted in the public and private schools of our country, it would be the greatest single step which we could take in educational progress."—Senator Talmadge of Georgia.
Carl Peterson, Regional Director for it is impossible for them to read it—much less current best sellers. The alternatives are clear either to read less than is necessary, or learn to read faster.
Dr. Robert Hutchins, former President of the University of Chicago, and founder of the great books program, once said, "To destroy our Western civilization, we don't have to burn all the books. We merely have to leave them unread for one generation." The principal problem we have to face today, is the frontiers of human snowledge are being thrust back, is that this knowledge is being committed to print, and it must be read before it can be used. Advances have been made in almost every field of
Enrollments have been growing rapidly in this region says Carl Peterson, Regional Director. Our current projections show that 6,000 students will graduate from our area's schools this year.
To meet the demands for classes, special 500 hour training courses for teachers have been held with the result that the staff has grown from 3 to 51 in the last 2 years. There is still need for more teachers. All trainees must have one or more degrees and be successful graduates of the Reading Dynamics course.
Contributing greatly to the training program is the use of TV tape equipment for training films and teacher evaluation, said Peterson.
Many dramatic changes have been effected in phases of the school activity. A new guarantee has been instituted, promising to triple the student's reading speed or refund his tuition.
In the last year, after several years of research and experimentation by Evelyn Wood, a new training program was instituted, with heavy emphasis on technical reading and study techniques. As a result of these new methods, the average graduate is now reading faster than 1,500 words per minute; less than $2\%$ of the students have required a refund under terms of the guarantee.
The need to increase reading speed is vitally apparent in this fast-changing world, since there is now available infinitely more printed information than in any previous generation.
Legislators, professional men, business executives, teachers, students and housewives are deluged in a sea of professional, trade and technical journals in addition to daily news-papers, magazines, and other general publications to be read for pleasure and information.
They must forego much of what they should read,
human endeavor. We run faster, fly higher, and dive deeper, but we still read at the same speed that our grandparents did; 300 words per minute. The shame of it is that this is no longer necessary. The whole philosophy of learning could be changed if every person in this country would take the time to use his dormant capabilities. No industry could use the same standards and techniques it used 25 years ago and expect to continue in existence. Yet we remain satisfi-
the training program is the use of TV tape equipment for training films and teacher evaluation, said Peterson. Many dramatic changes have been effected in all phases of the school activity. A new guarantee has been instituted, promising to triple the student's reading speed or refund his tuition. In the last year, after the training program, previous generation. Legislators, professional men, business executives, teachers, students and housewives are deluged in a sea of professional, trade and technical journals in addition to daily news publications, magazines, and other general publications to be read for pleasure and information. They must forego much of what they should read, teachers to hold classes in any city or for any school that expresses a strong interest in having the program, and also will supply teachers for in-plant courses. At the corporate executive level, where a second saved is measured in terms of money earned, entire staffs have been enrolled to take the seven-week Evelyn Wood course.