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BS

I would consider myself a rather slow reader whose bad eyesight and lack of practice hinders his ability to read for pleasure and comprehend dense text. Plagued by frequent procrastination (mostly on the computer or spacing out), I find it hard to read for long periods of time. It seems as though the article from The Atlantic (Is Google Making Us Stupid?) accurately depicts my reading skills, for I find myself much more prone to skimming myriad Wikipedia articles than to reading a novel. While I do enjoy books that pertain to subjects of my interest (philosophy, economics, sports…) I enjoy reading short stories much more than reading long novels because they tend to be less dense and more action-packed. I tend to fly through light and fast paced books/stories like The Hobbit and Harrison Bergeron while texts like The Federalist #51 and Plato’s Republic generally require me to frequently reread sections. When I am assigned a book for school, I usually do not finish the book (although I want to) because I put it off for the last minute and it ends up being too much for me to finish on the last day before the due date. While I try to finish these books after they are due, I am often assigned another book that I must start before I finish the preceding book.

School’s effect on my reading has good and bad qualities. It gives students a chance to experience different genres and authors that they wouldn’t necessarily be exposed to otherwise. Some students, like me, might not read at all if they were not assigned reading by school. Therefore, students who are “supposed” to read for school are exposed to reading and practice their reading skills for school. School also sharpens students’ comprehension skills and their appreciation for complex writing and prose by exposing them to the different variations of literature. On the other hand, school can often force biases and opinions of teachers upon students that can ruin a student’s natural opinions. It also assigns books that student might hate. This would take away from their potential pleasure reading of books that may benefit them.

HW

I have always been a reader. My parents love telling me that I learned to read at an “exceptionally young age” and “haven’t stopped since”. I remember in fourth grade making the decision to always read six books at a time, and I did. While this could sometimes make for a confusing reading experience, it was always an enjoyable one. I am a very active, emotional reader. Last week I was reading a book where the main character, a teenage girl, got in a fight with her mom. I went downstairs for dinner later that night, ready to yell at my mom in frustration, only to find that I wasn’t mad my mom, but I had been so caught up in the story I felt like I was the protagonist in that book. Reading is an adventure for me, and although it’s such a cliché, books do take me to other “worlds”. I know this is a sentiment that many people do not share with me, and I feel like that is because of how we read for school.

I realized a few years ago that the English curriculum set forth by most middle and high schools do not accomplish what they should. My English classes have consisted largely of reading books and writing five-paragraph essays about the stories or the characters. English classes should force us to think about more than the main characters or the plot structure; they should help students recognize the complexity of the writing, how the author carefully chose each word and sentence, as well as the point, the purpose, of the story itself.

Whenever I read books for school, I am crazed and stressed. Honestly, this is because I usually leave them for the last minute and then have to rush through the chapters in order to get an A on the reading quiz next period. When I read for myself, on the other hand, I can take my time, read slowly, read every word and get the full meaning of the text. How much can I really get out of a book that I read in a week only to study vocab words, major character relationships, and surface analyses? I would rather read a book over a long period of time, discuss the plot, the story, the characters, but also break apart some particularly important or well-written paragraphs or talk about the historical context of the story and its significance. I want reading for school to be the adventure it is for me when I read for myself. It kills me that there are so many people who hate reading. I believe that if school encouraged more open, freer reading, as well as reading simply for the sake of reading, high schoolers would love books as much as they should.

RC

For me personally, reading is the only time in school where I feel like I am getting smarter. Getting a good grade on a lab report or translating a Spanish packet or finishing a math worksheet correctly just makes me feel like I am somewhat good at handling the system. That I can do assignments given to me. I don’t feel like I’m ultimately being shaped as a person in any way, in terms of ethics or judgment. I think someone is smart if they have a world-view and opinions. I cannot form an adequate opinion until I hear other’s ideas and then evaluate and analyze them to form my own. When I read, I get to do that.

In middle school I used to read everything and anything because I had the time to do it. Now, books are more like an investment. It’s not a great way to go about it but in the time constraints and social/academic obligations I have in high school, it’s what I have to deal with. If I wanted to read a typical, fun, enjoyable “trashy novel”, I will hold on until the summer or a vacation. During school, I figure, if I’m going to “invest” time, 2-4 hours on a book, I want it to be something that I felt was worthwhile to me as a person when I finish. Reading a trashy novel would be the equivalent of watching a comedy movie. Both of those are what we like to call “escapes”. In high school I’m less interested in the escape route of a book as opposed to the knowledge I could gain from one. Both types provided me with temporary entertainment, but the former doesn’t really provide intellectual stimulation or use later in life necessarily.

I love reading and I love books. I don’t have a problem with SparkNotes either. People think the people that go on SparkNotes don’t care about English or can’t analyze on their own. For me, it’s just that I SparkNote the books that I don’t care to read or don’t find interesting but I’m obligated to. I have never regretted SparkNoting a book I didn’t feel was good. Example… Lord of The Flies. I read books I wanted to instead. And I was still able to gain the necessary cultural references to participate in conversations and go out later in life and understand when people say things like “we’re like savages from Lord of the Flies.”

I think I also get sensitive to the idea that English skills are undervalued. Since we live in a society where ranking opinions is taboo, it’s easier to tell who is better at subjects like math and science. There are clear-cut answers for those subjects, so the people who got the right answer are clearly more talented. This is not to say that there are clear-cut answers for English or history, but there ARE better interpretations or opinions. Some are deeper or more thought-out, and some are based off of almost nothing. Some people have better mathematical skills, and some people have better analytical skills. So yeah, some people may complain reading “kills the magic” of certain books. But just as there are more interpretations of books there are different “magic’s” that can be produced. Analysis and thinking deeply are two things that I try to do and I personally do get a lot of satisfaction from it. It may kill that initial magic, but in the end, the net gain of all of that is worth it.  You learn how to look at things differently, you get to hear other people’s opinions on the same text, you can notice things you didn’t notice before.

I don’t necessarily ENJOY being assigned books to read, but I know I need it. I like reading but I get too easily distracted so I don’t always do it. I will hang out with my friends or go on Facebook or watch TV and just make excuses not to. So I’m sure many will argue that school books kill that joy of reading, but I know plenty of people would just not read, unless school required it. It’s not really a win-win situation anywhere.  I think more than anything I just wish I had more time to read. The only time I have is before bed and I’m usually too tired by then.

GS

          I feel that the product being produced by the current English system is a student who inherently reads for the sake of test taking than for the pleasure of the story itself. They will struggle (or cheat) to remember the characters, setting, and major conflicts down to the hilt, but lightly skim over the intricate details that truly flesh out the story. They can analyze prose, but only in the most basic sense, so that they can answer a question on a test later. When it comes to subjects of morality in a novel, the current system produces a student who will willingly believe what the teacher or lesson planner has taught them. If the key to getting an A on a test requires a shift in one’s perspective, most students will not think twice to alter their opinion.
          In regards to Prose’s other question there is no economic benefit to altering the current system in any way. Teenagers who systematically submit to the lesson’s plans interpretation of a novel are likely to become non-questioning adults (read: easier to control). In an economy that is run by worker-bees, why waste time teaching them to become independent readers? The current English system (and school in general), while not entirely beneficial for the students, is a godsend to the¬ big factory employer down the road.

JS

The school system produces products that have a bad view of reading but do not have a vastly worse appreciation for literature. Anything that is forced on a student and crammed into a schedule, can be labeled as work by students and literature should not be work because to understand the material, a person must be relaxed for the intended meaning to come out. When people choose to read books on their own they are able to make more connection and understand what the author is doing because of schooling but at the same time they have a duller sense of the whole book and reading in general. The problem stems from the lack of desire for reading and while reading, the stress involved. In my experience I find I hate reading the books assigned in school but I usually really like the books. It does in a way ruin some appreciation of the books but for the most part I would appreciate it the same if I had read it outside of school. The problem is that books are dulled and the books I read outside of school are much more interesting than the books in school because the feeling of work makes learning and teaching harder. Some people would argue that reading should be work, in that to fully appreciate a piece of literature, one needs to force oneself to look more deeply and analyze, but I contend that what the writer does, he does to produce an effect and to feel that effect one needs to keep their mind open and not try to focus to hard. The way I read is based on reading for the plot, looking for the imagery and making the connections to my own life and not focusing too much on the methods the author used. This is the reason I read fantasy and mystery; they focus on plot and imagery and allow the reader the freedom to make their own connections. This isn’t to say that analysis and rhetorical strategies are undesirable. They serve purposes; it just depends on the reader’s purpose. If the reader is reading a book for enjoyment then it makes sense to focus less on analysis. If a person is reading to become a better writer or to understand how other people might feel about the piece of literature then maybe it requires some analysis. Unfortunately teachers focus on the analysis and kill the story and don’t ask how the students really feel about the book without promoting a certain bias. The system produces readers who don’t want to read.

LS

    I think the school is trying to produce readers that are competent at over analyzing the texts and losing the message that the author intended. A certain high school teacher of mine (I will omit their name) forced us to count the number of words in each sentence and, when we were experts at counting words, made us also count number of syllables in each sentence. They asserted that every author planned out the number of syllables and contrasted sentences of varying lengths to convey an emotion or help illustrate a point in the book. This kind of over analysis was entirely detrimental to our understanding of the author’s intention and made us lose the point of the book. Although this is an extreme example, some English teachers believe that this is the way we should be taught and I believe that this ruins literature and makes kids not enjoy reading. I do think that there is a happy medium and that we can learn how to appreciate some writing techniques and styles- unfortunately, the only way I could appreciate the books we read with that former teacher was to ignore what they stressed and completely fabricate any analysis and ‘syllable numbers’. Sometimes, the only way to learn about devices that help further the author’s intention is to shove the techniques in the students’ faces but there is a fine line between stressing those that help further the plot and those that are completely and utterly irrelevant.

RD

The school system has made me into a terrible product because I take advantage wherever I can. I cheat, I copy work, I use sparknotes, I slack, I go on cramster, and that’s just all I’ll admit to. I originally wrote this essay during another class this morning. As far as reading goes, school has helped and hurt me. It makes me read books that I wouldn’t have otherwise, which I appreciate. It also makes me read books that I regret even knowing about. In general, school has made me read more intellectual books instead of what I call ‘popcorn’ (young adult “novels.”) School also gives me so much work that I don’t have time to read a lot, so I’ve sacrificed quantity for quality, which isn’t so bad. I just said that the school system ‘made me’ into a terrible product, but that’s not entirely true, I could do the work if I wanted to. I am just lazy and I don’t see the point in doing things like webassign because I don’t get much out of it.

MK

I believe that the current educational system produces robots, who are able to spit back information regarding plots, literary devices, etc., but are unable to truly appreciate the beauty of literature, and have difficulty reading for anything other than a homework assignment.   
    For example, when I was younger, I was always reading, and I didn’t analyze every character, or search frantically for anaphora’s, but rather I enjoyed being transported to another world, found within the pages of a book.  Now, however, I rarely find time to read at all, and when I do have time, I plow through assigned books that I feel pressured to read by a deadline, and don’t particularly enjoy.  As a result, I miss subtle nuances that make books enjoyable, and read with the purpose of obtaining as much information as I can in as little time as possible.  Thus, the education system hasn’t necessarily ruined reading for me, but it definitely makes it less enjoyable, and forces me to read in a manner that I do not particularly prefer.

AC

When I sit down to read an assigned book, I approach it completely differently from when I read a book because of my own interest or drive to do so. In my opinion, to read a book out of free will is a totally different experience. If a book has been recommended to me or is about something I find interesting, I am able to become engrossed in the material and take my time to enjoy (or loath) it. Obviously, my honest opinion of a book is influenced by it’s reputation or others’ opinions, but I find the ability to get lost in a book much easier without the pressures school places on reading. The pressure to read at a certain pace suffocates the actual purpose of the writing: entertainment. However, there are definite advantages to being taught a book in a structured environment. When in class, I usually find my teachers or peers are able to point out parts of a book I completely missed or didn’t understand. School has given me the ability to recognize certain literary devices and background information, but has also impaired my ability to enjoy a piece of writing simply for the story it tells.

AD

I think school influences me to read books that are more “intellectually stimulating” and “academic”. Sometimes they are interesting, but most of the time they are not. Often, the books on our reading lists are older “classic” books, which are believed to possess some sort of important, undying quality to them. I don’t know about that, but I do think that they are often lacking relevance to our current society and time period. Teachers may argue that they are timeless and that the reason they are classics is because they can virtually be applied to any generation. I don’t really buy this at all, and I wish that we read some newer more relevant novels. It would be pretty cool to read books that were similar in story line but were separated by their publication dates and compare and contrast the affect that had on the author and the novel.

DT

What kind of reader does school create?
Non-independent reader
→ Class discussions before writing about or analyzing books, don’t get your own ideas down first
→ No individual choice of books
Western books only read
→ Most books are from western authors
→ Those that aren’t (ex. Things Fall Apart) are obscure/ concentrated in 9th grade
Non-writers
→ Read books in different styles, write in 1 style
→ Students are forced to find all elements of a book (theme, metaphors, foreshadowing, etc.) and think they cannot write well b/c they don’t consciously include all of this in their own writing
→ Read fiction in English, write non fiction in other classes + think of the other classes as a different form of writing (don’t apply what they learned to other places)
Fun fact- while writing this I kept messing up and putting the word “writer” in for “reader”, maybe that has something to do with something?

Terrible questions lead to...

So I realize as I begin to write that my question was not as well formed as it ought to have been. If you found yourself wondering exactly what I was looking for... I am right there with you.

The first thought that comes to mind is that I learned to appreciate Faulkner while writing my thesis and so my love for writing considered "artful" increased due to work I did in school, but I also still love reading books like "Infected" that I don't think is very artful. So what does that mean that school taught me?

I look back on most of what I studied in many English classes with very little emotion. In fact, I rarely look or even glance back at it, much of the experience was not necessarily meaningful, particularly in a lasting way.

If anything, I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in English Literature with an overly developed sense of cynicism for English criticism and the very idea of "literature" that probably led me to disregard some of the actually valuable criticism I read in my career at Haverford College.

I try to think back on high school English and I don't remember too much. I do remember thinking I was smarter than my teachers and wasting a lot of time and emotion objecting to all the enormously demanding assignments that took up so much of my clearly very valuable time.

I remember Ryan MacPherson and the project we did together on existentialism and using Monty Python, a noose, and a stale-mated chess game to demonstrate what we were talking about. I remember thinking how much smarter than me he was back then and how he probably thought the project was terrible because I brought him down and missed the point. Luckily he humored me.

But I don't remember much about the books we read, which books we read, or any feelings abotu the books and what we did in class regarding them.

I remember being enthralled by Tom Clancy but shying away from some of his books that didn't have enough action in them. I remember reading all of Louis L'Amour's novels in the shiny brown leather covers from the Brentwood Library and I remember spending hours imagining the Middle Earth I read in Tolkein, an imagined Middle Earth now lost forever thanks to the movies.

High School may not have had much of an effect on me as a reader. My habits and feelings about reading were so well established, perhaps even entrenched that Ms. M---- and Ms. B---- and Ms. Whatshername and the older Ms. Whatshername that gave me bad grades because my writing was too small couldn't actually change how I felt about books.

If anything, I've emerged from my schooling about literature even more over-confident in my own personal value system regarding literature in any definition.

I think books are great. I like big books and small books and funny books and sad books and low-brow books and high-brow books. I appreciate good writing though I still have difficulty defining it. "Light in August" overflows with really cool writing, "Infected" is completely devoid of it. Dan Simmons' "Ilium" mixes increibly fascinating ideas into a great story, as does Neal Stephonson's "Snow Crash." I enjoy Shakespeare but I rarely pick up "Julius Caesar" on a whim. (In fact, I think I've never picked it up despite being told to read it as an assignment in a college class)

Everything has to have its opposite, we learned this in nature or maybe in Coach Pauley's Physical Science Class in 9th grade. But for every tottering old cranky woman saying that Shakespeare is the epitome of genius, there are at least 23,571 8-yr olds that will argue that "like, no way, JK Rowling is totally WAAAYYY better. For serious."

They can't both be right. Can they?

Could it perhaps be true that beauty and art are really in the eyes of the beholder, irrespective of the beholder's qualifications?

I will be the first to argue that some books are inherently "better" than others but at least 80% of my students would disagree with my choices for