The Problem with Reading
I came across an article recently called “Harry Potter and the Death of Reading” that was written in 2007 by Ron Charles, senior editor of the Book World section of the Washington Post.In the article, Charles laments the narrowing of reading focus, quoting scary statistics like this one: “According to a study by Alan Sorensen at Stanford University, ‘In 1994, over 70 percent of total fiction sales were accounted for by a mere five authors.’”
And even they aren’t read that often. The National Endowment for the Arts’ study “To Read or Not to Read” demonstrated that the trend is firmly moving toward the second half of the phrase…we’re reading less as a nation. According to the NEA, the “percentage of 17-year-olds who read nothing for pleasure has doubled over a 20-year period.”
Interestingly, the percentage of 9-year-olds who read almost every day for pleasure has remained constant (about 54%).
Something terrible is happening to tween and teen readers. That thing is school. I’m calling you out, School. You know what? I’m calling parents out, too. Just to be fair.
Here is the problem, as I see it.
A child shows up for kindergarten, plops herself down on her green carpet square, and stares raptly as the teacher reads beautifully illustrated stories to the class in a voice rich in tonal quality, with marvelous pauses for effect and questions that build suspense (Will the Runaway Bunny ever escape his mother?).
Then, a terrible thing happens. She learns to read. Why is this bad? Because people stop reading to her, and the books she can read herself are nowhere near as interesting as those people read to her. She’s too slow a reader to catch the flow of suspense. She gets frustrated sounding out words and would rather do something easier. She brings home the “assignment” to read out loud for fifteen minutes a day, and so it becomes a chore.
Enter (cue Darth Vader music) Standardized Testing. Now, the child hears stories, but she must analyze them. How many of you would read for pleasure if, when you returned the book to the library, the Comprehension Police were waiting to make you answer questions about what color the dog was and what kinds of conflict were in the story? Heck, most of us don’t even want to talk about the books when we’re at our book groups, for crying out loud. And yet. And yet we expect our kids to keep being avid readers when we bleed the joy out of it, one multiple choice question at a time.
Advance to middle school and find our same child. Now, she is over-scheduled and concerned about peer opinion. Her parents, concerned that she’s supposed to be the next gymnastics super star, have her in the gym twenty hours a week, but she is also taking violin lessons, in Girl Scouts, studying piano, and participating in two or three other activities, just to make sure she never gets any time to just lie on her bed and read. Many of her friends aren’t reading, and so reading becomes even less a part of her life.
Advance to high school. All of a sudden the juvenile fiction is gone. Disapparated like Harry and Hermione. She skipped somehow from A Wrinkle in Time to A Tale of Two Cities. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love A Tale of Two Cities. I have a secret crush on Sydney Carton. Apparently I just outed myself. However, giving it to a fourteen-year-old with a set of study questions will turn even the most determined off reading. Perhaps forever.
And woven through this entire tapestry of travesty is the lack of recreational reading being done by the people around her. Too wrapped up in apps to appreciate the printed word (okay, I’ll allow Kindles, Nooks, and the like as reading, though I myself am a paper-toting Luddite when it comes to reading). Too busy watching television to read. Too caught up in mundanity of life to escape, even for a few minutes, into other realms. Too busy living to live more deeply.
So where did our little avid reader go? We drove it out of her. Slowly and methodically and terrifyingly effectively.
What is the cure? I have a plan!
- Schools must ensure that there is time for pleasure reading not associated with testing. Librarians (like Esmé Codell – a bibliophilic angel) must be allowed time with kids and (gasp!) money for quality books. There must be library browsing time.
- Parents should keep reading to kids even when the children can read themselves. I cannot describe the pleasure
of sharing books aloud with your children. I still remember being iced in with my sons for four days, wrapped in quilts and reading the “Little House” books virtually non-stop the entire time. Years later, one son drew a picture of it, with a thought bubble coming out of his head that showed the picture he had made in his mind while I read. - Schools should incorporate Young Adult fiction into the high school curriculum and stop forcing only classics down the kids’ mind-throats. There is a place for classics, but there is a place for contemporary interest-driven reading as well. And there is a place for it in schools.
- Parents should read for pleasure and let their kids see them doing it. The library should be a heavily-frequented stop, and, while you’re at it, try an independent bookseller, too. You can buy books for literally pennies at garage sales and thrift stores. My home is decorated in Early Book Lover, to be honest. I just can’t stand a room with no books in it. It feels naked.
- We should allow kids time to lie on their beds, swing in hammocks, and flop on couches to read. We should not schedule them so tightly that they could not read for pleasure even if the mood struck them. And maybe, just maybe, we should eat on paper plates once in a while so we can read, too.
One thing the Harry Potter and Twilight phenomena have shown us is that kids will read if we get out of their way. But just because those series are over, there is no reason to stop. Let’s help the readers in our lives stay on their carpet squares, mouths agape, as long as possible. Forever and ever. And let’s join them. Now, for the quiz…
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Lisa Van Gemert is the Gifted Guru. Lisa is the Gifted Youth Specialist for Mensa, a popular conference speaker, and a professional development facilitator.
She's passionate about educating and parenting the gifted, and this site exists to help everyone become a guru of the gifted.
Lisa lives in Arlington, Texas, with her husband and occasionally her very own, nearly-grown gifted kids who come home from college for food.
GUILTY! Thank you for writing on this topic! It is so true, and I am guilty of this very thing. I hear the whine, “Mom, I’m bored…” I respond with, “Why don’t you go read a book?” It’s BORING! Thank you so much for opening my eyes and allowing me to see that I could be doing so much more for my bored whiner, than just sending her to her room to read.. I could be reading TO her and go on an adventure WITH her. How did I ever forget that children that are read to, become better readers. Why did I think learning from me automatically stops when she learned to read her “stage 1″ book?? AH! Thank you!
Dear Shelley,
Thanks so much for your comment! It’s so true that those of us who love to read ALL THE TIME forget that something lured us there, and we be lures to our own kids. I love the phrase “go on an adventure with her.” So cool!
Lisa
This is so true! Having been a school librarian from PreK through HS, I see the progression (or recession) just as you describe. Don’t forget about all those awful assigned book reports and computerized reading test programs! My sister-in-law used to read aloud to her sight impaired 92 yr old mother. My favorite time of the day is sitting in bed just before I turn out the light from reading a chapter or two. Up until my daughter went to college as an honor student, she enjoyed hearing me read to her. It doesn’t have to be a book (although that is my preference). I encourage my alt.high school students (who have little time for themselves) to pick up an old issue from the stacks of magazines I have available and take it with them,or read the newspaper. I love “book talking” 1-on-1 with students. I leave paperbacks at the airport in hopes that someone else will pick them up and enjoy them as much as I did. There is SO much everyone who is a reader can do to encourage others, but you are so right….schools and parents need a paradigm shift toward reading for pleasure.
Oh, thanks for sharing this! It made me think of something you might be interested in…World Book Night. It’s a night when people give books to strangers. Doesn’t that sound fun? You’ve inspired me to post on another opportunity for book sharing, too, so thanks!
Lisa
Exactly! I can’t even say how much I agree with this! I’m 15 years old, and I may be one of only a few people in my grade that actually like to read, especially books others than the “norm”. Granted, my parents love books too, and my mom’s an English teacher. But still. The one thing that turns me off of reading more than anything is having to answer questions or take notes on it. I really enjoy discussing books, but notes or questions…bleh! I remember back in 4th grade, there were reading groups and I had to read books such as The Moffats, or Ruby Holler. They may be good books, but we had to write, say, 10 sentences on the assigned reading, which could be 10 or 15 pages! I haven’t had a book assigned in school yet where I didn’t read ahead. Not one! A few, I’ve put off reading, but oftentimes it wasn’t so much the reading, as what came after…tests and questions…who knows/cares what the symbolism is behind the dog on page 394?!?
Also, I wanted to say that I heartily agree with having time in school to read! I know it would help me relax, and really, I could thing of almost nothing better! I remember reading the A to Z mysteries when I was younger, and in one of the books, they are in school, having DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time…and I was so jealous! At one point, a few years ago, I wrote an essay on why schools should have DEAR or SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) time.
Also, I would recommend the book The Reading Promise, by Alice Ozma. Her father read aloud to her every single day from the time she was 9, until the day she left for college.
P.S. I’m lucky enough to get to volunteer at my local library, and it is a highlight of my week!
Dear Emma,
Here’s a quote for you: Samuel Johnson (the famous dictionary guy) said: A man should read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good.” I will absolutely read “The Reading Promise.” Thanks for the recommendation.
Lisa
I read to my kids when they are little, but my 3 boys started reading books faster than I could, they would take the books and say “Here Mom, let me read to you” I LOVED that. Now all 3 of my boys read far above there “level”. My youngest finished the Harry Potter series in the second grade, he is now reading Stephen King because there are “No good books” in his school since they won’t put books that are considered to high of a grade level in the school library. When we travel everyone brings books, when we go to the Doctor, they bring books, sometimes we even bring books to the grocery store so they can read while I shop. I think part of the problem with kids not reading is that they also do not see their parents reading much, and as much as kids don’t want to admit it, they learn what they see their parents doing. When people ask me how I “get my kids to read so much” I tell them that I read, I read with them, I read next to them, if we can find a good one we listen to books on CD when we drive, and when we have both finished reading the same book we talk about our favorite parts! It is all about setting the example, and in my house I set the example by reading for fun whenever I can.
Btw… Great article
I loved reading this, and I completely agree with you about example, although it’s true that even avid readers have reluctant readers as kids, it’s not as common as reluctant reader children of reluctant readers. I hope that made sense!