Barber’s Child Literacy Program Aims to Put Kids Cut Above Rest
Pennsylvania barber Jon Escueta says he’s been shaping heads and hearts since 2006.
The 38-year-old émigré from the Philippines owns City Cuts Barbershop in Kutztown, a familiar place filled with all the tools of the haircutting trade along with boys and men – plus books.
That’s because Jon and his team aren’t your typical barbers. For years now, children who agree to read a book out loud when getting their hair trimmed can earn $3.
It’s all thanks to a program called “Books for Kids” that Escueta established to boost or build self-confidence in his young customers. He got the idea while coaching youth basketball.
“My players were afraid to communicate with each other and speak publicly during practice and in games,” he told the site Upworthy.
Jon was all too familiar with the shyness and insecurity. He was 8 years old when he arrived in the United States.
“I didn’t know English and that was a lot,” he says. “I felt like I was being judged. The ones who are timid—I gravitate toward those kids. I know what it feels like and try to make them feel good about themselves.”
Nearly five years removed from the COVID school shutdowns that acerbated a growing problem with student reading, literacy scores continue to plummet. Despite an increase in federal funding, the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress found 4th and 8th grade reading levels falling below the historic lows of 2022.
Clearly, more money won’t solve the problem.
“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture,” warned the late author, Ray Bradbury. “Just get people to stop reading them.”
Critics of school reading programs have expressed concern and frustration over the fact that fewer teachers require students to read entire books anymore. The trend then carries on into adulthood.
Pew Research found that more than half of American adults read four or fewer books a year.
Which is why Jon at City Cuts wants to start encouraging young children to get into the habit of holding a book in their hand.
“Kids can start as young as pointing at picture books of certain cartoon characters, colors, animals or whatever they would like to look at,” he says. “Even just a few words or sentences—it’s the effort of trying and eventually will turn into chapters and louder voices.”
“A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people — it’s a never-failing spring in the desert,” noted the late industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who gave away $60 million to help fund 1,689 public libraries across America.
The late Charlie “Tremendous” Jones was a strong Christian who committed his life to helping others in a variety of ways, but especially by encouraging people to read.
“Leaders are readers,” he liked to say. “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
Jon Escueta would agree.
Image from: City Cuts Barber Shop
