Legends of Windemere

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I’m sure the comments will be totally fine.  Not like I’m blaming English teachers for turning students off to reading.  I’m not, but it can be seen that way.  Not blaming parents either.  I might blame whoever is so distant from the real world that they think the way we teach literature is good for everyone. Betting it’s a politician.  I’m sure someone is going to blame TV, video games, and movies in the comments.  Anyway, let’s get away from me trying to predict the worst case scenario.

Reading should be fun.

Anybody want to disagree?  Well, the truth is that for the first quarter of our lives, we’re forced to read most of the books we interact with.  I was an Honors English student in high school, but dropped out of that when I simply hated the books.  They were boring and didn’t hold my attention.  I’d skim in the hopes of getting enough to pass tests, but I preferred the fantasy, science fiction, and superhero stuff I had at home.  If I was reading the school assignments, I’d be too tired to read what I wanted, especially since there was always a writing component of the work.  For a few months, it looked like I would give up on reading entirely.  In fact, I realized that many adults I knew didn’t read much and they said it was because they didn’t think it was fun.

Jump to present day with my son in his ELA class.  He’s younger than me and his grades are around the same level as mine at that age.  Yet, he puts up a fight for reading almost everything.  He’ll stick to graphic novels if given a choice, which are accepted for his independent reading.  Due to how his mind works, he is a very slow and easily distracted reader though.  So, it takes him a long time to read assignments.  This results in him losing an entire afternoon if he has to do a few chapters.  It also means asking him to read over the weekend is equivalent to trying to give a cat a bath.  My son enjoys the stories he gets to choose and many of what he’s assignment, but he finds the act of reading a chore.  So, I worry that he won’t be a lifelong reader.

All of this got me thinking about how we teach students to read and then move on to literature.  I see it at work and at home.  It’s easy early on, but things can go sideways once the larger novels come into play.  Each student has their own interests and way of learning, so it’s difficult to get a book that will be enjoyed by everyone.  Some might prefer to read on their own while others do better if they’re in a group or read it as a class.  The addition of independent reading certainly helps, but can become a problem if a student reads slow.  Then, they will have two books to read at the same time and the pressure of the task will grow.  Feels like a lose-lose situation here.  Don’t get me wrong because teachers do their best in a system where students are looked at as their numbers more than their individuality.

Then there are the parents, especially those who love reading and can’t understand when their child doesn’t want to.  They might read to their child at a young age and nurture a love of literature.  That’s always a good thing.  Yet, they can end up pushing too hard when the child is becoming more independent.  They might want to do something else or read certain books, which the parent doesn’t enjoy.  Here is where some go wrong in trying to force the issue.  It becomes a chore and a battle, which means the child will begin hating reading before they ever step foot in a school.  It’s even more of a problem if you have a child who has trouble reading and you don’t give them the proper time to get through a book.  I’ve seen that happen a bit.

People tend to not think about this issue, but it’s one that I’ve thought about since I was a teenager.  It worries me as an author too.  If younger generations read less and less then what chance do new authors have to get an audience?  They’re more likely to stick to the big names that already have shows and movies based on their books.  I can’t really blame them.  After years of being forced to read things, a person will be more careful about what they pick up.  A movie or show can be an introduction that tells them if they will like to invest more time in a story.  You might think to blame the other media types for this problem, but is it really their fault?

The truth is that something stops being fun when you turn it into a chore.  This goes for hobbies that are turned into soul-sucking jobs, video games that become mindless grinds, and anything that loses its excitement.  Books require a lot of imagination and time investment, so they have a harder time than more visual media.  This is made worse by them being forced upon kids who are already turning away from reading.  The dislike of the practice grows and stays well into adulthood.  For example, I’ve talked to many people in their 70’s who refuse to read poetry specifically because it was forced in high school and they hated it.  Some remember having different views on a poem than the teacher, their peers, and their parents.  This makes them feel like they don’t get it and may never understand it.

Actually, that’s another issue when it comes to reading.  We really try to force the concept of analysis.  Teachers and parents do this.  We ask a child what they think the author means or to explain the plot.  Rarely, do we ask how the story makes a child feel, which has no wrong answer.  In March, my son started reading a manga called ‘Toriko’, which involves a character who hunts down rare and dangerous ingredients.  The first few pages had no words, but showed food to get the tone right.  My son talked for the rest of the day about how delicious the pictures looked and how it made him hungry.  This also made him want to keep reading.  I can’t think of any test or analysis that would result in a child giving this answer and being allowed to keep it.

So, there are a lot of threats to the love of reading.  We have to battle through them starting at a very early age.  Feels like most don’t make it to adulthood with much interest in books.  That amount gets larger with every generation too.  I’ll go into ways to nurture reading both as a parent and teacher on Wednesday.  For now, what do you think about this?