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Re: Boys and Books
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From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:22:29 -0400
The discussion of boys and reading has veered into ideology -- which quic kly generates more heat than light. But there is the germ of something imp ortant in the recent posts about gender, hegemony, stereotyping etc. One valuable aim of education may be to inculcate values in boys that will ma ke them into more caring, considerate, idealistic, cooperative men. Anothe r certainly important aim is to aid boys in decoding print and thus becomi ng active readers. The problem is these are two completely different educa tional aims which are too often conflated. If when we say boy reluctan t reader we really mean boys are not eagerly reading in a way that passes on the values we wish they would embrace, we are being misguided, if not disingeneous. Passing on values is not a function of literacy. Hitler was a voracious reader. Ahkbar, the great (and famously tolerant) Mughal empe ror, was illiterate. Before we stigmatize boys, we need to be clear about what he mean by "reading" and what goals we expect turning pag es and maki ng out words to accomplish.
Marc Aronson
Received on Fri 23 Apr 2010 09:22:29 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:22:29 -0400
The discussion of boys and reading has veered into ideology -- which quic kly generates more heat than light. But there is the germ of something imp ortant in the recent posts about gender, hegemony, stereotyping etc. One valuable aim of education may be to inculcate values in boys that will ma ke them into more caring, considerate, idealistic, cooperative men. Anothe r certainly important aim is to aid boys in decoding print and thus becomi ng active readers. The problem is these are two completely different educa tional aims which are too often conflated. If when we say boy reluctan t reader we really mean boys are not eagerly reading in a way that passes on the values we wish they would embrace, we are being misguided, if not disingeneous. Passing on values is not a function of literacy. Hitler was a voracious reader. Ahkbar, the great (and famously tolerant) Mughal empe ror, was illiterate. Before we stigmatize boys, we need to be clear about what he mean by "reading" and what goals we expect turning pag es and maki ng out words to accomplish.
Marc Aronson
Received on Fri 23 Apr 2010 09:22:29 AM CDT
