Unfortunately,
a cry of distress heard from teachers around the world (translated into English
for the purposes of this e-mail) is “Kids today can’t read!” Alongside
that is its not-too-distant cousin, “Kids today don’t
read!”
This
week’s Wednesday WICOR blog is a top-ten list devoted to answering that
question: Why Don’t Kids Read?
Why Don’t Kids Read?
1.
They’ve never had to. School has provided them with fill-in-the-blank
worksheets, study guides, and study questions that allow the students to scan a
text for boldface words or important phrases rather than trying to make meaning
of the text. The person who made the worksheet did all the comprehending
for the students instead of making them do it on their own.
2.
They’re out of practice. Like any skill, reading requires practice, and
the less they read, the more their reading muscles atrophy and they become
comprehension weaklings.
3.
It’s not fun. Believe it or not, most teenagers do not find reading about
the of development of ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia to be as thrilling
as updating their Instagram, meeting their virtual friends online for a game of
World of Warcraft, kicking a soccer ball, or IMing their BFFs. Some teens have
discovered the joys of pleasure reading—hopefully an ever-increasing number in
Plano due to self-selected reading being done in English classes--, but
that’s generally a well-kept secret in the adolescent world.
4.
It’s hard work. Reading, especially the kind we expect in rigorous high
school and college courses, does require some effort. Struggling to
follow a complex argument, grappling with a challenging sentence construction,
and wading through some dense academic verbiage are all aspects of the reading
adventure, and some people are not up for the challenge.
5.
They’re easily discouraged. (See 4 above). When the going gets rough,
some teenagers find it’s easier not to try.
6.
They don’t expect the text to make sense and aren’t willing to struggle when
necessary to figure out what it means. If I had a dollar for every time I
head a student say, “I read it, but I didn’t understand it,” I could retire
now. Another favorite response: “This chapter doesn’t make
sense.” Really? It’s amazing that the professional textbook writers
wrote something completely nonsensical and got it past the professional editors
to have it published. Really?
7.
They don’t have reading role models. Recent literacy studies indicate
that pleasure reading is at an all-time low; in fact, a 2007 NEA report
indicated that nearly 50% of all Americans ages 18 to 24 read no books—fiction
or nonfiction--for pleasure, and overall adult readership is declining across
the age spectrum. If students don’t see people they admire reading and talking
about their reading, they have little incentive to try it on their own.
8.
Some of them actually have legitimate reading impairments or
difficulties. Reading problems are widespread and diagnosed with
increasing frequency. Unfortunately for these students, texts probably aren’t
going to vanish from academia immediately, so they have to find modifications
and adaptations to help them succeed on reading-related tasks.
9.
They do read—just not books and articles. Leisure reading today
involves reading text messages, websites, blogs, status updates, and the
captions scrolling across the bottom of the screen during the Academy Awards
pre-show telecast—text which is short, to-the-point, quippy, and probably not
laden with SAT-worthy vocabulary or challenging sentence structures. In
the world of academia (for which we are allegedly preparing our students),
sometimes one has to read something longer than 140 characters, something that
won’t fit on the screen of a smart phone.
10.
Reading requires sustained concentration, and students have so many
distractions these days. In a world full of sound bites, white noise,
music video-paced editing, and 3D high-tech spectacle, reading is decidedly
less glamorous and flashy than what students do in their leisure time.
Reading requires the reader to provide his or her own special effects.
Doing that requires the undivided attention of the entire brain. Ouch.
Stay
tuned: Next week’s blog will give you some AVID-approved strategies to
help you begin solving the problem of why your kids can’t or don’t read.
I
hope you carve out some time for pleasure reading this week!
Craig