Schools should help by exposing kids to books the kids are likely to want to read. Which are not always works of literature.
You see the same thing today with popular modern authors.
In 100+ year time the niche writers who spend years reworking their prose are still going to be niche, while the ultra popular authors who had a cultural impact and dozens of published books will be studied even if at the time they wrote they were trashed as being “not real literature” or “pop fantasy”.
I severely severely doubt things like King Killer Chronicle or anything Jensin or Abercrombie has wrote will endure as much as Sanderson. This makes people seethe.
A more recent example of this is Asimov, part of the reason everyone knows him isn’t that his writing was particular great. He just wrote a lot, that a lot of people liked. It was pulp Sci fi, but it’s defined discussions generations later.
Imo Faulkner and Joyce are vastly overrated by people obsessed with prose, to the point that they fail to communicate their stories adequately. They get trotted out by English literature teachers, and frankly speaking snobs, and there are some cool uses of the prose in I. E. The Sound and The Fury, but I wouldn’t reread it and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone to actually read. It just wasn’t a particularly interesting book aside from the curious abuse of the language.
To get even pulpier sometimes I pick up a 40k novel and churn through it because it’s fun. It doesn’t demand me think much about it, it’s just telling me a story in a universe I’m familiar with.
exactly. Reading is a cheap and fun hobby. But you gotta find enjoyable books!
Schools approach literature in such a stuffy and formal manner too, they would probably make even the most interesting books a chore.
We need to foster a better attitude towards reading, and that starts with letting kids enjoy the books they are reading.
It’s not surprising. Reading for pleasure was phased out of schools a long time ago and replaced by “Literacy” and Accelerated Reader where kids are tested on the books they read and have to finish them as fast as they can.
We have a neo-liberal school curriculum in the UK that only sees reading as a function of employment or cultural indoctrination (in the case of the statutory requirement to teach Shakespeare and that no non-UK writers are allowed to be studied at GCSE).
Not sure about that last bit, Of Mice and Men is a pretty standard GCSE text and it’s written by an American
Here’s a a report fron 2014 about it:
https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/25/mockingbird-mice-and-men-axed-michael-gove-gcse
As an ex-English teacher I can assure you that’s the case. It changed in the 2016 reforms (when, among other things grades turned into numbers). It’s the same for To Kill a Mockingbird, another much-taught US text.
Some schools use Of Mice and Men as class readers in Year 8 and 9.
Here’s a a report fron 2014 about it:
https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/25/mockingbird-mice-and-men-axed-michael-gove-gcse
In elementary school we weren’t even allowed to check out books from the library if the teacher didn’t think we could pass the AR test because it would lower the class average.
I’ve witnessed children forced to read three or four thin “books” in an Accelerated Reader lesson so they can be tested 3-4 times to improve their “data” / test results.
I’m HIGHLY sceptical about the quality of the data the tests produce (reading ages and some sort of AR “progress”).
The whole idea of ACCELERATING reading of books is just repulsive and wrong. Some children (and adults) get more out of a book by simply reading at their own pace and enjoying it.
Most adults don’t read in their spare time.
I’m one of them and it sucks.
I used to read more but lately I just can’t focus on a book or dedicate the time.
I do a lot more audiobooks or learning podcasts but that’s mainly so I can do something else at the same time.
I’m trying to actually spend more time reading articles rather than skim them.
If it’s anything like it is here in the US… what fuckin’ spare time? I mean, I remember having some when I was in grade school back in the 90s, but you look at kids nowadays and it looks like every waking second is scheduled, and what isn’t … is scheduled for homework. The fuck is left?
They only looking at books? Lots of reading in many video games.
Depends. If they’re playing FIFA and they’re just reading stats and figures for maxing their team, probably not. If they’re playing a 59 hour JRPG telling a story though text, then it’s more similar.
