Why Don't Our Children Read Anymore? Lyn Sofras at BTS
One of my favourite authors, Lynette Sofras, has joined us this week, dealing with a subject dear to all our hearts.
http://booktrailershowcase.com/2012/0...
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http://booktrailershowcase.com/2012/0...
We'd love to see your comments
Love
Jenny Twist
xxxx
Follow me on:
my Website: https://sites.google.com/site/jennytw...
Amazon: amazon.com/author/jennytwist
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jenny-...
Goodreads Blog: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JennyTwist1
Or email me on casahoya@gmail.com
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Hi UL, I'm passing this on to Lyn to reply. But I, personally feel that the world would be impoverished without books. The pictures in your head are always better than the ones on the screen. I'm sure there are still lots of wonderful books out there are providing what children enjoy. A young friend of mine hated reading but loved being read to and we subsequently discovered she was dyslexic. What inspired her to keep trying and to eventually overcome her problem? Harry Potter.
Yep. There are quite a few of those. Realistically, reading takes a muscle that needs exercising. That muscle is fading from the youth. Kind of like the pinky toe of the mind, I guess. Reading is one thing. Reading fiction... Thank goodness for Harry Potter and the like. In other words it's just discipline. We didn't grow up with the internet and waves of 3D movies and just so much entertainment. Personally I'd rather read a good book than go to a party. I'd rather read a good book than, I don't know, eat. But that's a GOOD book. Most of these books nowadays are bad. MOST of them. I can think of a few that aren't bad, truly. I mean, Harry Potter is great, although I'm not a fan by any means, some Lois Lowry, and beyond that it's little children's books. I mean picture books. Small short stories.
The gate keepers are publishing rubbish. I've never dropped so many books. Don't know why kids would pick them up. Really don't, sorry to say.
I can't really express an informed opinion on children's literature, since I rarely read any, but I couldn't agree more on the general standard of books being published at the moment. I review for Manic Readers and the vast majority of books put on the site are erotica (aka porn). Most of the ones I have reviewed are badly-researched, badly-edited and badly-written, but there are, I'm glad to say, exceptions.
Nowadays I will not review anything unless I am provided with a blurb and excerpt which allows me to guage whether it is worth my time to read it.
Lol! It's good to know that there is quality erotica out there. I'll keep an eye out. Young kids still love to read. I find the middle school and high school sort the ones that stay away from it. I think they come back though. They come back after school because now they don't have to read for school. Making kids read is just lame. If it's punishment or treated like green peas or mushrooms then that's the reaction you're going to get. "Read your book it's good for you." When it should be, "Hey, stick reading in this part of your day, it's cool right there," kind of like treating reading like a recipe. Add this and this and it'll be good.
Something like that I think. Like I was saying, I think it's more discipline. And the kids nowadays need different discipline. Not more discipline, just different discipline, and different books. Not that old junk that's laying around. But maybe we shouldn't introduce them to erotica yet, not even the well researched, good stuff. We should keep that to ourselves. Let them discover it on their own.
Lol!
Yep, I went there.
I think you make some excellent and interesting points, U.L. and educators who are so closely in tune with the way young minds work always impress me. However, I'm very much with Jenny on this subject and I also think teachers should be facilitators in leading the young to discover literary treasures for themselves.
I agree force-feeding literature to the young is no solution, but making some reading compulsory has always been a major part of education. Governments set goals for literacy targets and - although most teachers know these are unrealistic, works of fiction in themselves - teachers have little choice but to try to ensure these are reached as painlessly as possible.
Reading is the lynchpin of literacy. It needn't be a solitary occupation. Guided reading within the classroom, smaller reading groups in quiet corners or whole class reading (either by the teacher or willing students) can all make the task of reading more manageable, interesting and interactive. If children are allowed to take the attitude that something is "boring" before they've even tried it, then surely they are setting themselves up for failure in the future.
Some of the older students I spoke of in my article, however, actually chose to study English Literature but even then complained about having to read - preferring to "study" texts through the medium of film! (I expect they still prefer junk food to green peas and mushrooms too - lol).
I think it would be a tragedy if that "pinky toe of the mind" (love that description!) were allowed to become extinct as that might lead to a society of passive consumers who lose the ability to ask significant questions. I also agree that the gatekeepers need to be more vigilant and strict about what becomes accessible to the young, but how far can censorship go? The moment something is forbidden, it becomes doubly desirable.
U.L. wrote: "Lol! It's good to know that there is quality erotica out there. I'll keep an eye out. Young kids still love to read. I find the middle school and high school sort the ones that stay away from it...."
I didn't mean I reviewed the erotica. I only review non-erotic books. Now and again I have accepted one by mistake and, believe me, they are not generally of high quality. The genre seems to be the refuge of bad writers.
For sure. And I wasn't judging you. It just seemed like an opportunity to crack a joke.
Wow. You are eloquent. I'm going to agree with you completely, Lyn. However, the problem is you made a really good point. Without reading I think we do have a nation built on, um, lower creative sorts. And I believe our creativity is what makes and keeps us humane, somehow, and not just consumers. With that being said, we ARE a nation of consumers. Consuming is our core. Young kids can read for fun and that's great. But those slightly older kids, the ones who can move things forward through expression, the ones who have the energy to motivate with their ideas, the ones who can compose and push forward arguments, are not reading. Most of them are not. Because of this, as a people, we are losing perspective. I would argue we already lost perspective. What educators are trying to do is great. What they are actually doing is mediocre and insulting, and many of them know it. We need to stop telling kids to read for 20 minutes and start telling them to read something they like for 20 minutes.
We need to stop asking them questions about what they read and start asking them to ask questions about what they read. They can find their own answers.
We need to let them discover the "classics" on their own, and introduce them instead to "relevant now" and effective creative literature.
We need to show them that a book is the words making the content, not just the binding. They can now read online, with e-readers, in color, in black and white. Why are we not making all these forms available in school? They can go ahead and read books on their kindle app for free on their phone. Who cares, as long as they're exposed. I mean, right?
Unfortunately we are not teaching OUR kids; we are trying to teach kids from 100 years ago. Do we want our kids to read creatively or do we want them to read in a way that we can gauge?
I would definitely argue that plenty of adults still read. It's just that we adults who are reading, we're not motivating and moving new ideas forward like the younger generation can and has in the past. On that level, if we cannot accept that we have failed, then we will not succeed, because we won't get better. Until then, we are exactly what you didn't want us to become--nothing but consumers.
Done and done.
I think you are extremely eloquent yourself, U.L. and much more besides. I can feel your passion for this subject very strongly and I would have given anything to have had someone like you on my team when I was running an English Department. Together we might have changed a little corner of the world for the better!
Ha! Good speaking with you. Hope to hear from you
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Finally, let's face it. Reading is something you do by yourself. Who wants to do that?
Now, young people who want to read, I tell them to read Fight Club, or something by Palahniuk. They need to read something with characters that keep getting deeper, with situations that get complicated enough that they want to tell their friends. Are books doing that? No. At least at a movie you can just watch mind-numbing stuff happen, you don't have to sit there for a week by yourself reading about insignificant stuff happening.