Reading is a chore?

[Cyndi]

Today my dad saw me looking at a copy of the book Eragon while shopping for my mom. Though I know it's in theaters now....well my dad gave me a twenty to buy it and you'd think I just won the lottery. I may not worry about seeing the movie for awhile now since I'll be reading the story at my own pace.

[Reika]

Cyndi - It's a good book, so is it's sequel Eldest.

kareng57 - I'm not saying everyone should be a reader, I just think it's sad there's often various discouragements from getting people to read. While I'm an avid reader, I do more than just read, I'm way too fond of playing games like World of Warcraft, chatting with friends online and real life, hitting certain message boards.

[kareng57]

Cyndi - It's a good book, so is it's sequel Eldest.

kareng57 - I'm not saying everyone should be a reader, I just think it's sad there's often various discouragements from getting people to read. While I'm an avid reader, I do more than just read, I'm way too fond of playing games like World of Warcraft, chatting with friends online and real life, hitting certain message boards.

It's just that there seems to be such a prevailing attitude these days that there's something wrong if a child doesn't love reading - you know, the "just give him the right kind of book" reasoning.  For me, that would be similar to someone saying to me "you'd love to garden if you had the right kind of spade!"  Yes, parents and teachers should expose the child to the literature that's out there - but IMO the main concern should be that the child does indeed have proper reading comprehension, rather than how much he/she enjoys reading.  Difficulties with reading, while they can usually be overcome, can affect the person for the rest of his/her life after all.

I'm going off on a bit of a tangent here, but I think sometimes kids become discouraged because parents/teachers are insisting that they read  only classic-literature.  As I mentioned before, for a few years my boys read voraciously - but in all honesty a lot of it was Goosebumps, Archie comics and MAD magazine.  I figured , so what? (Naturally I wouldn't have allowed them to read anything really objectionable, though after the preteen years I probably couldn't have prevented it anyway).  I remember about 10 years ago I would up being a parent rep (I still can't remember how I got "selected") at a reading seminar.  The majority of the teacher-speakers spoke about instilling a love-of-reading in students.  I think our school principal was the first brave person to assert the idea that, no matter what you do, not every student is going to become an avid reader.  The goal should be for all students to become competent readers.

[Reika]

I'm afraid I am one of the book pushers, I try not to be, but it's just one of the things I love that I think many miss out on and I'm much more likely to try and give a kid a book to read instead of putting them in front of the tv. The force feeding kids "classical literature" doesn't really encourage them to read either. While it's been many years since I was in school, I still remember the horribly mindnumbing books we were required to read and grateful for the fact that I knew there were other things out there to read. Quite a few of my peers didn't want to try reading other things believing that what the teachers were giving us was typical of what was out there.

But as always to each their own and I'll try to be careful of my book-pushing.

[Venus193]

Making kids competent readers is a realistic goal.  I also think that we should prevent them from somehow developing a hostility to reading.  I think most of us have known at least one person who put others down for a love of books.

[Slartibartfast]

It's just that there seems to be such a prevailing attitude these days that there's something wrong if a child doesn't love reading - you know, the "just give him the right kind of book" reasoning.  For me, that would be similar to someone saying to me "you'd love to garden if you had the right kind of spade!"

This doesn't seem so far-fetched to me - no, you don't expect every child to love gardening, but I would support children having an appreciation of how things grow and what happens to it before we eat it.  You don't expect every child to love gardening when they grow up, but being able to appreciate what is done and why would make them more well-rounded adults.

The statistic I was told at a library meeting was that by high school, 80% of students say they don't read unless it's required.  And only 25% of adults read for pleasure - although that 25% account for a pretty huge book sale market.  I wouldn't expect that other 75% to love to read - but I want them to know enough about it that they could read if they wanted to.  Unfortunately, a lot of kids don't read because they can't.

[Reika]

And only 25% of adults read for pleasure - although that 25% account for a pretty huge book sale market. 

I can believe considering how much I spend on books without really thinking about it. My extra money goes to books and misc computer stuff.

[Alida]

And only 25% of adults read for pleasure - although that 25% account for a pretty huge book sale market. 

I know DH and I do our share

[Venus193]

Only 25%?  I'm going to check that at work in our syndicated research database.  If that is true, most must be book addicts.

A few years back I read a stat that the addicted romance reader had an annual budget of $1500 or more for books.  I checked that against the information compiled by MRI and discovered that this is true and that addicts accounted for more than 50% of women who read those books.

The calculation for this was dividing the industry's assessment of new-book sales by the number of addicted readers.  This does not account for books purchased second-hand, which is not tracked by the industry.

[Reika]

When gainfully employed on a regular basis that's probably about what I spend on sci-fi and fantasy, maybe a bit more.

[Venus193]

Reading is a fabulous thing, and helps to open up the mind.  And what is so interesting is identifying today's classics that were yesterday's "pulp fiction."

[lilaenne]

One analogy might be gardening.

I think the main difference is, mastering basic gardening skills is not a prerequisite for all other outdoor persuits. One could still jog, or sail, or hike, without being able to grow plants.

Every other intellectual activity needs reading. If a kid is turned off reading at a young age, there could be a future anything (from aerospace engineer to zoologist) that will never blossom because as a student they won't be able to slog through the required reading to get there.

[kareng57]

One analogy might be gardening.

I think the main difference is, mastering basic gardening skills is not a prerequisite for all other outdoor persuits. One could still jog, or sail, or hike, without being able to grow plants.

Every other intellectual activity needs reading. If a kid is turned off reading at a young age, there could be a future anything (from aerospace engineer to zoologist) that will never blossom because as a student they won't be able to slog through the required reading to get there.

But that's not what I'm talking about.  Yes, all kids should be skilled-enough readers to not be held-back in any future pursuits that require reading.  I'm talking about the often-made assumption that it's a shame when people don't read for pleasure.

Simply put - not everyone does, and it doesn't necessarily mean that their early education, or exposure to particular books, was lacking.  I know people whose occupations require a great deal of reading with a high level of comprehension - and some of these people do not read for pleasure, either.  These people were able to slog-through required reading both in school and on the job, so it's not a reflection on their reading skills.

[avonlea29]

The only book I can remember truly despising is Wuthering Heights which I had to read in senior english. Before the teacher passed out the copies of the books she actually apologized for having to teach it because it was a requirement of the system that it be taught. By the time I was done reading that book I wanted to not only burn it, but wanted to track down the person who insisted that it be included and beat them with it.

Aww, I LOVE Wuthering Heights. I'm amazed an English teacher would have such a negative attitude towards it. 

Wuthering Heights was just ok. The book I detested was Forsyte Saga. It was sooooo boring, yet I read the whole thing...like 800 pages. But neither was an assignment, my mom just had a set of leather-bound classics (Brave New World, David Copperfield...didn't ever finish Vanity Fair) and I read a bunch of them...I think I was about 13 at the time. lol My favorite was Rebecca.

[Venus193]

The Forsyte Saga played better as a TV series.  The first one, not the remake.