Are we teaching kids to hate reading?
Thursday, September 5, 2013 at 05:54AM 
OK, the statistics in the graphic above may be questionable (Robert Brewer is a pastor at a Texas church and the Jenkins Group (a "custom" book publisher) study is from 2003, but the trend seems to be that people are reading fewer books.
I have to say that with the availability of streaming video (Netflix), easy free access to magazines (Zinio), and social media (countless blogs, Twitter, and Facebook), even this life-long reader finds himself finishing fewer books. Given the availability of these online resources plus the huge attractions of video games, I see younger kids reading less as well.
So is reading a good novel, a biography, or a classic becoming the acquired taste of a small percentage of our population? Will book lovers become a smallish cult like opera affectionados? (See also Libraries for a Post Literate Society.) Should I even worry about this shift from print to other means of gaining information and being entertained?
I can't help but think that schools are pushing kids away from reading for pleasure. Given the emphasis on reading as an "assessable" skill, rather than a human, personal endeavor, we are very concerned that kids can read, but not that they actually do. Dull textbooks and primers and programmed reading instruction (read the paragraph and answer the questions, repeat ad nauseum) are traditional, support the publishers' bottom line, and make schools feel they are serious about improving reading scores. Now if they only created actual readers.
Librarians, keep putting books in kids' hands that they want to read. We may be readings last, best hope.
(After I posted this, I received a tweet recommending Readicide. It's on my list!)
Reader Comments (9)
Doug,
As a former English teacher and tireless reader, I love this post. Agree completely with all you say and would add a bit more. I think we also can turn kids off by making them analyze everything and then write formulaic essays. I've seen too many English teachers make the whole process much too "literary" in an overly intellectual fashion for kids.
Thanks again, Doug, for a meaningful post.
I have coached a few Battle of the Books teams in Iowa and have soured on the emphasis on recalling detail during local and the State competition (even though I realize that's the nature of a reading competition). So, beginning this year, my book clubs will not be BOTB, but Iowa Childrens Choice Award books and even the Goldfinch list (of picture books) or any book that students are interested in reading. We will have discussions instead of questions about the number of buttons on his purple shirt (OK, not a great example, but...).
Hey, kid - do you like that book you're reading? Come and tell us about it. Maybe somebody else will want to read it too. Hey, we're not even going to have a test on it!
I hear what your saying, and the statistics here are very sad but at our school, Renaissance College in Hong Kong I think we do an awesome job of creating a positive reading culture. Our English Dept is very active as are the Teacher Librarians at promoting and encouraging reading. We use social media (such as Goodreads) as a tool to encourage interaction and sharing, we have some e-books but still love our print collection and purchase popular and new titles as soon as they hit the stands. Pleased to say we are having a positive impact. What I loved from this infographic was the bit at the bottom;- Reading one hour per day in your chosen field will make you an international expert in 7 years! How inspiring!
Hi Mark,
Every time I read totally depressing novel (like McCormack's The Road) I always think how much my HS English teachers would have loved to have taught this.
Great point on literary analysis. I'd stop reading if I had to dissect everything I read too!
Doug
Hi Bob,
The silly simple recall approach is the same reason I don't like Accelerated Reader either. Your approach seems like that kids will like. Thank you! (I like children's choice awards better than Newbery and Caledcott Awards too!)
Doug
Hi Andrea,
This sounds wonderful, The international schools I work with do an awesome job and have had wonderful libraries. I'll bet your kids do well on tests as well!
Ride the Star Ferry for me.
Doug
Are they reading less, or are they reading *books* less? Do the benefits accrue from reading generally, or reading *books* in particular?
Hi Stephen,
That's a great question and I am not sure it's one anyone has an answer to. I do know many people are concerned that sustained reading seems to be on the wane and ask if "snippet" reading has the same value. For example:
Calm, focused, undistracted, the linear mind is being pushed aside by a new kind of mind that wants and needs to take in and dole out information in short, disjointed, often overlapping bursts – the faster, the better. David Carr, The Shallows
Is reading reading, whether Moby Dick, a computer manual or the back of a cereal box? You're the intellectual I admire the most so I hope you one day address this issue if you've not done so already.
Doug
Do the kids make use of the school library? Kids must not be persuaded to read rather they should be motivated to read.......You should open a new world them....A completely different world,whose strings are tied with imagination....the habit of reading books should be developed from the small age itself....Such statistics may feel even more shocking in coming years if such a generation of book lovers is not developed.!!!!
Hi Margaret,
Couldn't agree more!
Doug
I like this post basically because I am a reading blogger and that I'm just worried about us kids not reading too much.