<p>My 15-year-old son brought up an interesting idea this week. He said he thought that schools should focus more, like a LOT more, on reading. Kids would read almost all the time, and periodically stop to “reflect” on what they’d read. He did concede that some math would have to be thrown in there.</p>
<p>That’s how much he likes reading. He gets in trouble for reading during classes, and I can’t make myself get upset at that (although I wish his grades were better!).</p>
<p>I think if I had read Tess of the D’urbervilles before college I wouldn’t have liked reading anymore either. I just read that one last semester and hated it, though normally I love literature from that time period.</p>
<p>So the results of our high schools"</p>
<p>There are 7 million illiterate Americans (mostly immigrans). Another 27 million are unable to read well enough to complete a job application, and 30 million cant read a simple snetence. There are some 50 million who read at a fourth- or fifth grade level. A third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives, and neither do 42 percent of college graduates. In 2007, 80 percent of the families in the United States did not buy or read a single book." Source: Chris Hedges,“Empire of Illusion”, 2009 - each of these facts are separately footnoted.</p>
<p>It’s not just a Henry James problem.</p>
<p>(I LOVE Ole Rolvaag.)</p>
<p>I recently met the mother of two twin girls, third graders, from Long Island, who were being suspended from school for “unauthorized reading”. (It was their second offense.)</p>
<p>Mini that bit about unauthorized reading is quite the commentary. Jeez. My older son hated reading all through school but now that he’s done and finished his degree he reads all the time. He just hated what they had him read and the way the teachers went about reviewing the material. And the teachers. Who hated him because he hated them. Funny how that worked. </p>
<p>I have a friend who recalls (back in the 50’s) being yelled at to “get your nose out of that book and go find something constructive to do like play outside.” Times change.</p>
<p>Both Ss were read to from the time they were infants. S1 always hated reading, mostly I think, because of the things he was forced to read in school. Finally, after college, he has developed a fondness for sci fi & horror novels, but reads them voraciously. S2 had the same problem. He complained about the choices. His school used some kind of a reading system where they read a book and then had to take a computerized test on it. He was reading well above grade level and the higher he got, the less choice there was in reading material. I asked the teacher if he couldn’t read something like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, but no, they didn’t have computerized tests for that! Grrr! So I helped him pick out easier books that I thought would be interesting. Told him to read those quickly and take the stupid test until he met his quota for the semester. Then he could read what He wanted to read.</p>
<p>It also looked the the list was composed by female teachers for girls.</p>
<p>I think part of the reason my S likes to read is that he had amazing teachers in 4th-8th grades who had plenty of great books that boys would like on their bookshelves & as part of their assigned reading. There are some really, really good books for boys, and I am pleased his teachers found them & shared them.</p>
<p>I mentor a young man who went to a top LAC in the east for undergrad. He confided that he had NEVER read a book by himself in high school. Assigned reading was either read to the class by the teacher, by the class in round-robin format, or to the class on tape. He had to work like crazy in college to learn to read the way he needed to read. Very sad.</p>
<p>My oldest did a ton of “unauthorized reading” in elementary school. Luckily his teachers put up with it as he always could answer their questions about whatever it was they were supposed to be doing.</p>
<p>My kids loved to read. They do taper off when they have tons of other stuff on their plate. When they came on a several weeks road trip with us, I noticed that S had a flashdrive with lots of e-books on it that he was reading for pleasure, including staying up late at night enjoying reading it on his netbook. D reads a lot of scripts and other writing by friends, as well as stuff for class so doesn’t do as much leisure reading as she used to.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t set much stock in the scores of kids for SAT/PSAT with regard to love of reading or knowledge/adbility. There is some plauteauing. My kids scored great in 7th grade standardized tests & kept that score about the same through HS. Not all that much space to go up when your kiddo is already 730.</p>
<p>Do know that trying to force or encourage much for our kids is the best way to get pushback & kill their interest in things.</p>
<p>“Mini that bit about unauthorized reading is quite the commentary. Jeez.”</p>
<p>The mother was called to the school to meet with the principal. The principal informed her this was their second offense, and what would happen if ALL the kids decided to do it? As the kids were unrepentent, he had to suspend him, though maybe the mother could try to “talk some sense” into them. </p>
<p>They are now happily homeschooling. </p>
<p>I remember that I had to do my “unauthorized reading” in secret. Luckily my name begins with “A”, and for six straights years, I sat in “Row 1, Seat 1”, which was not in the teachers’ direct line of sight. So I learned that if I waved my hand a couple of times a day, I could usually escape detection.</p>
<p>When we went for parent/teacher conferences in 5th grade, the gifted & talented teacher complained that S was reading the newspaper in class. I asked her to please clarify whether she DID or DID NOT want S to do that. She admitted she couldn’t decide, since he brought a lot of interesting discussion to the class by what he was reading. I suggested she let us know when she decided what behavior she did & did not want in her class so we could let S & his classmates know.</p>
<p>In our kids’ elementary school, S was allowed to roam the school for books he enjoyed reading from K. He happily sampled from all the classrooms in the area & devoured all the magic & chess books before heading to the library to feed his habit. D on the other hand had a teacher in 1st grade who was very upset with her because she would not stick to the picture books that the teacher felt was appropriate but instead selected the beautifully illustrated chapter books on myths. We supported D’s choices and she still loves myths & beautifully illustrated books to this day. D had no interest in reading picture books, which bored her to tears, since she had heard them all when S was learning to read years prior. She was concerned about when she’d start learning to read but was a voracious reader from age 7 through the present, age 21.</p>
<p>I never understood teachers who were so restrictive on what kids were and were not alllowed to read. My kids loved reading all sorts of materials, including “graphic novels,” which re-wrote classics with comic illustrations, including the same plot, vocabulary & everything. They are very articulate and still love reading. H & I also committed “unauthorized reading,” also known as “reading ahead.” It just seems to hidebound and unyielding to the differences among learners! I think teachers should be flattered that the kids finished the “assigned materials” and are willing to work beyond that.</p>
<p>Mini–we had the same problem with the third grade teacher and the oldest kid. No 1 would finish her seatwork in thirty seconds (because it was busy work and she already knew the stuff) and then start whispering with her neighbors, because she was not allowed to go over to the shelves of books and pick out something to read—and she was just sitting there. The teacher did not think she had finshed the work. </p>
<p>Then the teacher would she the child had indeed finished it, and get po’d because she had done it “too fast.” </p>
<p>She was complaining the kid was disruptive — finally we all had a sit-down in the principal’s office and I said, look, I understand that you weren’t planning for some of the kids to finish the work as fast as they do, but it is happening (actually only one kid was doing it). And you can’t really expect they will sit on their hands at age 8 and look at the ceiling until the “time is up.” </p>
<p>The principal agreed, and he suggested we send in books from home for Miss Workfast to read when assignments were complete.</p>
<p>Then he told us privately that we had to excuse Ms Teacher because “she is very young” – which I was prepared to accept & do—but he also told us that in his own experience kids who started reading early and were very precocious like this “burned out.”</p>
<p>I cannot tell you how pleased I was to be able to tell him years later that the future burnout had graduated from h.s. as the salutatorian, gone to Brown for BA & MS and done the MS in one year, and was currently working at MIT. </p>
<p>(We did, however have to impress upon Smartypants that it was unwise to correct the teacher’s spelling)</p>
<p>Homeschooled No. 3 for the same reasons.</p>
<p>For the OP, maybe if you left the kind of books your son used to like lying in the bathroom, he wd pick them up & read for fun when in there. I leave reading material I want people to see sittting near the toilet.</p>
<p>The issue around unauthorized reading now is the fear that the kids won’t be prepared for the Big Test.</p>
<p>Doesn’t appear to have harmed the kids who were willing to do “unauthorized reading.” Both of our kids were reading college-level stuff in grade school. S got perfect 800 on the CR for SAT & did great on PSAT as well. D also showed no harm from her great love of reading, including a lot of “pap” comics. My SIL is a dermatologist–her favorite reading material was “Archie” comics, which she still owns literally cases and cases of.</p>