Michael Gove: Children should read 50 books a year

[carpetmojo]

Vacuous pontificating by those who it won't affect, 'cos they're all right Jack.

[DixieGal]

Kids have too much homework already. And too many extracurricular activities.

[CazMar]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

My first reaction to "children should read 50 books a year" was "why limit them to so few?"

I remember when I was old enough to get my "adult" library card (I believe I was 8) and I could take out all the books I wanted, not just four like the little kids. I piled up an armload I couldn't see over when I stumbled out to Dad's car with it. I did that every week. I could read a typical kid's book in an hour or less; I was going through 10 a week with no trouble. And that's not counting what I got from the school library, and what I had of my own, and my parents' books.

But you can't force kids to enjoy reading. I read because my parents read. And I still do. If you want to sit down around here, step 1: move the books.

Glad to see I wasn't the only geek kid who used to drag home loads of books at that age! I had to get special permission from the Sydney library to get an adult membership at about 8, but it was like a free pass to a chocolate factory for me- so many books!
No-one ever forced me to read x number of books each week, the only thing my parents did was suggest (at 4 years old) that I learn to read as they were sick of spending all their time reading me books. I took the hint and have been reading ever since!

[carpetmojo]

Hear hear ....

"Oh, Mr. Gove says I must read my 27th book this week, I must miss my FUNSTUFF - which isn't reading 'cos I bin told to do it by Mr Gove..... and I'm so grateful to my teachers for passing on his thoughts and enforcing them...."

Yeah , right...........

"Politicians" starts with a p , like "prat", and wealthy right-wing politicians start without a brain.

Sorry, but it defies all logic.

[sunnysmiles]

To encourage a child to read is a great thing. It improves Language skills and opens a whole new world for them . I was encouraged to read when I was a child and I did the same for my children and my grandchildren are being taught the same thing .Where ever I go I have a book reader in my bag .

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

Personally, I find the excuse of lack of availability not valid. I personally have less access now than when I was a kid. In elementary school, we were in the school library at least once a week. In Middle school, it more or less was the same. It didn't get until high school that trips to the library wasn't mandatory, but I still walked by one every day. Now as an adult I can drive to the library, and have ereaders and the like, but I still have to put out the effort. I wasn't right at one every day.

Well depends which perspective you are coming from. I used to work in the IT departments in a few schools, ranging from Kinder to grade 10, and what I found disgusting was "due to the availability of information on the internet" schools were down sizing their libraries to save costs. One school (I didn't work there but in my local area) actually closed down the library. Each class had a limited number of books in their classroom. This was a school for ages 4-11 (Kinder to grade 6). So from the perspective of children who only have access to reading material at school....well there is bugger all.

Not sure what it is like elsewhere in the world but in Tasmania things are bleak in the education system in terms of encouraging children's learning. We are not pushers but we have a reasonable library for our children and we read every night to them. We don't count how many books per year and find that idea ludicrous. What we also feel important is not just the availability of books for our kids, but a broad range - provide them the opportunity to pick what suits them and not just live with what we deem best. Right/Wrong we don't care. Our own personal reading habits change, we read different genres or authors, why shouldn't a child have an opinion on what they want?

So no 50 books per year for our kids. We will read to them because we want to and they enjoy it, not because some pencil pusher said we need to get them to read 50 books a year.