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"Why Johnny Won't Read"
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From: Cassie Wilson <cassiewilson>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 23:58:22 -0500
An interesting and thought provoking article which was surely well intended, the definition of "Young Adult Literature" as "easy-to-read, short novels about teenagers and problems such as drug addiction, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, domestic violence, divorced parents and bullying" is highly oversimplified, shows a real ignorance of good quality YA literature, and is highly offensive to me. Should this lead us to believe that today's middle school boys would rather read, what?,
"Kidnapped" or "Robinson Crusoe" than say, "The Cay"? This is not a valid conclusion, nor is it valid to conclude that any youngster would fare better for having read the two aforementioned "classics" rather than by reading the YA title.
If Mark Bauerlein and Sandra Stotsky (and it is alarming to me to see them described as being in positions of real educational power that will be listened to) are interested in trying to turn back the clock to have children in elementary school read only the idealized and sometimes trivialized biographies of strong men (not strong women) in order to make them ready for the "feelings of mature individuals" and require them to read often outdated "classics" in upper grades (do they really think that modern authors write nothing complicated or deep enough to be of interest? If that is the case, that all the good things have already been written, then we're in trouble already.) as in the past in hopes of making boys like "reading again," then they should be prepared to also cut back television channels from the 367 hyper, vibrating, always available to the two or three that might have been available before. They will also need to remove video and computer games---computers for that matter. Then they might tone down some of the constant pressure and hype in the direction of sports and sex that a young man is assailed with these days, and lastly, but most importantly, do away completely with Accelerated Reading lists and tests and all such instruments that limit a child's reading choices so rigidly and turn the joy of reading and discovery into sheer detail regurgitation and test taking. Pure work.
They should put the money that the five-year study of "content rather than process" into buying books for the school and public libraries available to these students or in hiring more teachers, so that there could be more personal attention and interaction. Then an improved interest in reading might be seen, both among boys and girls.
Besides all that, where is the middle school, let alone high school, that encourages students to read young adult literature? This is one of the most serious cases of barking up the wrong tree I've ever heard of. Maybe these writers should read a little juvenile literature title called, "Where the Red Fern Grows."
Irately,
Cassie Wilson
Ruth I. Gordon wrote:
Received on Wed 26 Jan 2005 10:58:22 PM CST
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 23:58:22 -0500
An interesting and thought provoking article which was surely well intended, the definition of "Young Adult Literature" as "easy-to-read, short novels about teenagers and problems such as drug addiction, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, domestic violence, divorced parents and bullying" is highly oversimplified, shows a real ignorance of good quality YA literature, and is highly offensive to me. Should this lead us to believe that today's middle school boys would rather read, what?,
"Kidnapped" or "Robinson Crusoe" than say, "The Cay"? This is not a valid conclusion, nor is it valid to conclude that any youngster would fare better for having read the two aforementioned "classics" rather than by reading the YA title.
If Mark Bauerlein and Sandra Stotsky (and it is alarming to me to see them described as being in positions of real educational power that will be listened to) are interested in trying to turn back the clock to have children in elementary school read only the idealized and sometimes trivialized biographies of strong men (not strong women) in order to make them ready for the "feelings of mature individuals" and require them to read often outdated "classics" in upper grades (do they really think that modern authors write nothing complicated or deep enough to be of interest? If that is the case, that all the good things have already been written, then we're in trouble already.) as in the past in hopes of making boys like "reading again," then they should be prepared to also cut back television channels from the 367 hyper, vibrating, always available to the two or three that might have been available before. They will also need to remove video and computer games---computers for that matter. Then they might tone down some of the constant pressure and hype in the direction of sports and sex that a young man is assailed with these days, and lastly, but most importantly, do away completely with Accelerated Reading lists and tests and all such instruments that limit a child's reading choices so rigidly and turn the joy of reading and discovery into sheer detail regurgitation and test taking. Pure work.
They should put the money that the five-year study of "content rather than process" into buying books for the school and public libraries available to these students or in hiring more teachers, so that there could be more personal attention and interaction. Then an improved interest in reading might be seen, both among boys and girls.
Besides all that, where is the middle school, let alone high school, that encourages students to read young adult literature? This is one of the most serious cases of barking up the wrong tree I've ever heard of. Maybe these writers should read a little juvenile literature title called, "Where the Red Fern Grows."
Irately,
Cassie Wilson
Ruth I. Gordon wrote:
Received on Wed 26 Jan 2005 10:58:22 PM CST
