Blog #6: Readicide

I fell like Readicide is definitely an issue in schools. I fell like sometimes by not including the types of things that the students are likely to take any interest in whatsoever. Jennifer Weiner said “I think if the NYT cares about its darlings finding a wider audience, the smartest thing it can do is be a little more respectful toward the books readers are actually reading.  Students are thrown into that “readers” category, and are therefore more likely to read some of the things that Weiner is referring to: genre fiction.

 

 I won’t say that I absolutely have hated EVERY book that I ever had to read for school, but I won’t say I enjoyed them all either. And what is sad is that I DID really like some of the material that was mandatory for a class, I just hated the process of “reading” it within the classroom. For example, when we read Romeo and Juliet, I loved finally getting to hear Shakespeare’s writing. I’ll admit that it was not an easy text and definitely needed to be further analyzed for SOME parts, but that doesn’t mean we all have to stop reading every fourth line to discuss his word choice and if he had an underlying meaning to every word.

I also feel like there IS definitely a line between “the classics” that have (at least it seems) always been taught, and the new “hot items” that are circulating the market right now. We have to keep in mind, the classics present their values and do in fact hold similar themes and ideas that DO still exist today (contrary to popular belief). I don’t think that we should entirely disband the idea of teaching the classics, but schools could include a few Dan Brown novels, or have a class that looks at the sort of “in-betweens” like what some junior-high curriculum covers: The Giver, The Outsiders, etc.           

Just remember to not forget to actually put down the highlighter, and the sticky notes and, God forbid, the SPARKNOTES and just enjoy and READ books!!!