If you were to ask my brother Jeff if he reads, he would tell you that he doesn't.
But this is a lie. However, it's not my brother that is lying -- it's school that has lied to him.
School has beaten my brother down into believing that reading means novels. My brother hated school and he hates novels. But he voraciously reads online about politics. My brother is a reader, but school's narrow definition of reading has convinced him that he is not.
How is this a good thing?
We spend far too much time narrowing our definition for what children can read when really it doesn't matter what kids read, just so long as they read.
But this is a lie. However, it's not my brother that is lying -- it's school that has lied to him.
School has beaten my brother down into believing that reading means novels. My brother hated school and he hates novels. But he voraciously reads online about politics. My brother is a reader, but school's narrow definition of reading has convinced him that he is not.
How is this a good thing?
We spend far too much time narrowing our definition for what children can read when really it doesn't matter what kids read, just so long as they read.
People , and especially kids are spending many hours on-line reading facebook , blogs ,chat etc. Generally speaking most people have not got the concentration to read a blog or comments which are longer than 3 paragraphs. Do I call them 'readers ' - I don't think so. Imho , a person who can enjoy sustained reading is called a reader , whether it is on line or reading a book .
ReplyDeleteI know how your brother feels. School instilled in me a strong dislike of reading because I was always a slow reader. I wrote about it here: http://www.educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/05/02/reading-ability/
ReplyDeleteI used to joke by saying, "why read the novel when the movie's out." Ha ha, right? It was used against me when reapplying when a one-year position teaching language arts and social studies ended. I wasn't rehired.