Summer Reading debate
David Elzey posted the following to The Excelsior Files in 2007, as part of a five-part series about Summer Reading. I thought it would be good to quote it here, since the Required Reading vs No Required Reading debate is a never-ending one:
“…the summer reading of my youth, always self-directed and rarely encouraged by my mother, has been replaced with a formalized list of titles handed out at the end of the school year for elementary school kids to stress over as they tussle with parents over having their ‘fun’ summer taken away from them.”
Monica Edinger, from Educating Alice, has recently pointed readers to a parody she wrote on the topic a few years ago. To Require or Not to Require: That’s the Question is sure to make you laugh, as well as think about the issue.
This is not a debate about whether children should read during the Summer or not, but whether their reading should be chosen for them and required. What do you think?
July 21st, 2010 at 4:00 am
Making anything compulsory takes the fun out of it – agree totally. I am a voracious reader myself, but if I were asked, in my summer hols, to read up a long list of books, and sweat my mind to analyze them the way my teacher wanted, I’d have begun to hate reading.
July 21st, 2010 at 3:22 pm
I think the Summer Reading Challenge we have at the library here isd a happy medium – it encourages reading to be a focus over the holidays but it’s meant to be fun and the kids get to choose their own books – this year the theme is Space Hop – http://www.summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/. My two have done it for the last several years and love the puzzles etc that go with it, as well as the certificate and medal they get at the end.
July 21st, 2010 at 7:32 pm
I am strongly of the opinion that choice is essential for children’s reading success! I think you’ll find that other reading experts agree – kids will be more excited and read longer if they pick their own books. (That’s not to say that an adult can’t guide them to select books at their readability level.)
Melissa
http://imaginationsoup.net
July 21st, 2010 at 7:53 pm
I’ve put my kids in summer reading programs at the library and they have enjoyed them.