4 Ways High School Makes You Hate Reading

xg4bx · 10-03-2012, 12:21 AM

http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-ways-h...-hate-reading/

wizwor · 10-03-2012, 12:41 AM

I read a lot, but rarely for pleasure. Maybe when I retire, but, for now, I read for information mostly. I totally agree with the assessment. When I was in grade school, I spent summer days trying to get to the public library. I cringe when my kids come home with their school readings -- I don't want to discuss Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities, or Shakespeare.

ElsieC · 10-03-2012, 02:29 AM

I am currently reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. If Bryson wrote my junior high and high school text books, I would have enjoyed science so much more!

taustin · 10-03-2012, 02:36 AM

[QUOTE=xg4bx;2245888but since experience has taught me that there's about a 95 percent chance that a random (adult) book I pick up is going to be unenjoyable[/QUOTE]

That would be Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap.

Welcome to adulthood.

HarryT · 10-03-2012, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wizwor

I cringe when my kids come home with their school readings -- I don't want to discuss Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities, or Shakespeare.

Any reason why not? All great authors.

Kumabjorn · 10-03-2012, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Any reason why not? All great authors.

That is a subjective postulate. I happen to enjoy Shakespeare, but I also recognize that he is hardly the flavor of the month. For a non-native speaker of English it is more akin to a chore than enjoyment. For someone who enjoys fast packed action thrillers none of these authors are very appealling. They may speak to an intellectually inclined teenager but most 16 - 17 year olds will be buggered to read something they can't associate with, like say Harry Potter.

elemenoP · 10-03-2012, 07:47 AM

I had a boring, horrible Shakespeare professor and I hated Shakespeare for years. OTOH, in high school, I had a really fantastic, enthusiastic English teacher. I remember reading Catcher in the Rye and Heart of Darkness (two books on the "suck" list in the article) in her class and being enthralled by them.

It's all in the teacher, I say.

eP

DrNefario · 10-03-2012, 07:52 AM

Dickens, Shakespeare and Melville are all pretty wordy by modern standards, but what really kills them, to me, is the dissection.

I can get usually get something out of watching a Shakespeare play, if I'm in the right frame of mind, but I still shy away from the two I studied to death at school.

BWinmill · 10-03-2012, 08:07 AM

Well, a lot of that stuff boils down to the reason that I avoid 'literarure': reading tastes are subjective, while those who flog particular books/authors seem to believe it is objective. The literature crowd just happens to be worse since they have a strong sense of elitism.

DiapDealer · 10-03-2012, 08:39 AM

Because by all means... everything learned in a classroom setting needs to be fun and appealing and even exciting! And no one should ever have to learn the difference between doing things you want to do and doing the things you're assigned to do.

I know I've always appreciated the experimental "No Wrong Answers (or fractions/decimals either!)" math class my school offered.

But seriously...why does this always seem to come up? In my experience, the desire "to read" is sparked long before a child starts being assigned "chore fiction" to read in school. And I've yet to meet the child whose passion for reading was extinguished by academic reading assignments. Case in point: these articles are almost invariably written by people who still love to read even after the horrible ordeals they were put through. Waaaah!

So in my opinion, while "upgrading" curricula to include more contemporary, "exciting" genre fiction just might result in better grades (on the average), I don't think it would have much impact overall on the number of avid readers that come out of the system.

Readers are going to read what they want outside of class anyway, so why not at least expose them to other writing? Even if they don't like it? It won't kill them.

"You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
No, you can't always get what you want...
But if you try sometimes... you just mind find...
You get what you need.

xg4bx · 10-03-2012, 08:42 AM

Thankfully I already had an interest in reading before I got into school, otherwise I think I would have fallen into the "I hate reading" trap. I don't know who decided that Barbara Kingsolver was compelling reading for 14 year olds but I got stuck with it in high school.

hrosvit · 10-03-2012, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

But seriously...why does this always seem to come up? In my experience, the desire "to read" is sparked long before a child starts being assigned "chore fiction" to read in school. And I've yet to meet the child whose passion for reading was extinguished by academic reading assignments. And plus... these articles are almost invariably written by people who still love to read even after the horrible ordeals they were put through. Waaaah!

+1. If you (the parent) have not instilled in your child a love of reading loooong before his high school Lit teacher assigns him to read "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", then he (the child) is already screwed. And if you have done your job and taught him the joys of reading, both for knowledge and pleasure, then this experience won't ruin him.

Edit Or her. Girls can read, too.

JD Gumby · 10-03-2012, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

But seriously...why does this always seem to come up? In my experience, the desire "to read" is sparked long before a child starts being assigned "chore fiction" to read in school. And I've yet to meet the child whose passion for reading was extinguished by academic reading assignments.

I have. Specifically, my own brother who just started reading for pleasure in the last couple of years - after having learned to hate reading in junior high school (when the chore reading starts; prior to that, he was into the Hardy Boys for his reading pleasure) almost 30 years ago.

Hell, junior high and high school almost extinguished my own love of reading - but, frankly, I only just barely passed English in those days because I was unwilling to give up reading for pleasure in order to read and dissect the crap (several Shakespeare plays, Catcher in the Rye, and a couple others I can, fortunately, no longer remember), mainly only passing because we also did "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Lord of the Flies", which were actually *good* (at least at the time I was reading them; they were mostly ruined by the dissection in class

).

DiapDealer · 10-03-2012, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

Hell, junior high and high school almost extinguished my own love of reading...

Horsehoes and handgrenades.
Horseshoes and handgrenades.

steven522 · 10-03-2012, 09:07 AM

Most of you must have had a better school experience than I. Heck, school is what drove me deeper into reading. It was an easy form of escapism that didn't involve getting drunk or high with my classmates that were also looking for an escape.

10-03-2012, 12:21 AM	#1
xg4bx Are you gonna eat that? Posts: 1,633 Karma: 23215128 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phillipsburg, NJ Device: Kindle 3, Nook STG	4 Ways High School Makes You Hate Reading http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-ways-h...-hate-reading/ Last edited by HarryT; 10-03-2012 at 03:00 AM.

10-03-2012, 08:39 AM	#10
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,880 Karma: 207000000 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Because by all means... everything learned in a classroom setting needs to be fun and appealing and even exciting! And no one should ever have to learn the difference between doing things you want to do and doing the things you're assigned to do. I know I've always appreciated the experimental "No Wrong Answers (or fractions/decimals either!)" math class my school offered. But seriously...why does this always seem to come up? In my experience, the desire "to read" is sparked long before a child starts being assigned "chore fiction" to read in school. And I've yet to meet the child whose passion for reading was extinguished by academic reading assignments. Case in point: these articles are almost invariably written by people who still love to read even after the horrible ordeals they were put through. Waaaah! So in my opinion, while "upgrading" curricula to include more contemporary, "exciting" genre fiction just might result in better grades (on the average), I don't think it would have much impact overall on the number of avid readers that come out of the system. Readers are going to read what they want outside of class anyway, so why not at least expose them to other writing? Even if they don't like it? It won't kill them. "You can't always get what you want. You can't always get what you want. No, you can't always get what you want... But if you try sometimes... you just mind find... You get what you need. Last edited by DiapDealer; 10-03-2012 at 08:50 AM.

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10-03-2012, 12:41 AM	#2
wizwor Wizard Posts: 1,068 Karma: 23867385 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: kindle, fire	I read a lot, but rarely for pleasure. Maybe when I retire, but, for now, I read for information mostly. I totally agree with the assessment. When I was in grade school, I spent summer days trying to get to the public library. I cringe when my kids come home with their school readings -- I don't want to discuss Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities, or Shakespeare.

10-03-2012, 02:29 AM	#3
ElsieC Zealot Posts: 121 Karma: 21024 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Ohio, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	I am currently reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. If Bryson wrote my junior high and high school text books, I would have enjoyed science so much more!

10-03-2012, 02:36 AM	#4
taustin Wizard Posts: 1,358 Karma: 5766642 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Nook	[QUOTE=xg4bx;2245888but since experience has taught me that there's about a 95 percent chance that a random (adult) book I pick up is going to be unenjoyable[/QUOTE] That would be Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap. Welcome to adulthood.

10-03-2012, 07:47 AM	#7
elemenoP Wizard Posts: 1,717 Karma: 3790058 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: NYC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Sony 650	I had a boring, horrible Shakespeare professor and I hated Shakespeare for years. OTOH, in high school, I had a really fantastic, enthusiastic English teacher. I remember reading Catcher in the Rye and Heart of Darkness (two books on the "suck" list in the article) in her class and being enthralled by them. It's all in the teacher, I say. eP

10-03-2012, 07:52 AM	#8
DrNefario Wizard Posts: 2,227 Karma: 12029046 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: Kindle, Kobo Touch, Nook SimpleTouch	Dickens, Shakespeare and Melville are all pretty wordy by modern standards, but what really kills them, to me, is the dissection. I can get usually get something out of watching a Shakespeare play, if I'm in the right frame of mind, but I still shy away from the two I studied to death at school.

10-03-2012, 08:07 AM	#9
BWinmill Nameless Being	Well, a lot of that stuff boils down to the reason that I avoid 'literarure': reading tastes are subjective, while those who flog particular books/authors seem to believe it is objective. The literature crowd just happens to be worse since they have a strong sense of elitism.

10-03-2012, 08:42 AM	#11
xg4bx Are you gonna eat that? Posts: 1,633 Karma: 23215128 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phillipsburg, NJ Device: Kindle 3, Nook STG	Thankfully I already had an interest in reading before I got into school, otherwise I think I would have fallen into the "I hate reading" trap. I don't know who decided that Barbara Kingsolver was compelling reading for 14 year olds but I got stuck with it in high school.

10-03-2012, 09:07 AM	#15
steven522 binomial: homo legentem Posts: 1,061 Karma: 25222222 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Alabama, USA Device: iriver Story HD; Archos 80 G9	Most of you must have had a better school experience than I. Heck, school is what drove me deeper into reading. It was an easy form of escapism that didn't involve getting drunk or high with my classmates that were also looking for an escape.