But I think there is a downside that goes unacknowledged. There are things to be learned by picking out your own books that contribute to the development of life long readers. Among them how to find books you might like, how to figure out what makes for a "good" book, besides the fact that your teacher thinks it's a good book.1
I'm lucky, my sons are voracious and happy readers, but I wonder if even less happy readers might benefit from a bit less structure in the summer reading. (Though like most things, this, too, has a flip side. Ask a son to stop reading and do a chore can elicit a sigh, and chiding "Most parents encourage their children to read."
Photo is my stack of entirely self-selected summer reading!
1. Case in point, last year, The Boy was assigned to read The Great Gatsby for English, and then to say why it was a classic piece of literature. The catch? He didn't think it rose to that level. (He's not alone, we looked in the literature to find several English professors who had written scholarly articles agreeing with The Boy.)
Interesting. One of our sons is a dyslexic reader. But thanks to extensive remediation has become a voracious reader. He chafes at the summer reading lists - says they are out of date. He asked for a variation and was told no. Already, two weeks into his summer vacation, he has read three (not on reading list) books and is in the middle of about four more...
ReplyDeleteSigh....who does rigidity benefit?
DeleteI totally agree with your thoughts on summer reading -- and I'm a high school English teacher! In fact, our department has a policy not to assign it, period, for the reasons you cited in your post.
ReplyDeleteI remember being in high school and having to read "All Quiet on the Western Front" as a summer reading book. I, of course, knew nothing about WWI and the whole book meant absolutely nothing to me. I also remember having to read "The Grapes of Wrath" a summer later, and it was torturous. Now, of course, I have come to love both books ... but the mere fact of being forced to read them during summer vacation, without the benefit of classroom scaffolding and discussion, was awful. Let's not do that to great literature!
It makes such a difference to have some context, I read All Quiet without any background and was puzzled more than tortured (probably because I had just picked it up, my town library was VERY small!). And I"m glad to hear that not every school does this...
DeleteI had to laugh at the mention of Gatsby. That was one of the books I disagreed with my teacher about way back when.
ReplyDeleteAs for summer reading, I recognize at least one of the books on your self-selected list! :)
Chris will be glad to know he's know the only one! And you absolutely would recognize one or two of those books :)
DeleteI'm afraid I can help with your confirmation basis on this one. It didn't strike me as well-formed either. But I suppose if what you have in your head was purple prose and formal nested sentences, mostly 1800s, it was a wind of freshness. Perhaps it changed what came after so we can't see the ripple it made? I don't know. My reading lists are my own. (over at my pesbo blog. http://pagehalffull.com/pesbo)
ReplyDelete