I love your argument here. As someone with younger kids (not yet in high school) who wants to foster a love of reading in our family, I absolutely agree with you that all reading is good reading. Kids and adults who feel confident enjoying books will be more likely to sit down and read for hours, and that reading muscle will be strengthened over time.
Schools really do everything to kills the joy of reading. TL;DR: How my teachers demotivated us from reading on national reading month. I still remember when my school wanted to inculcate a reading habit and started a national reading month. To foster the environment, they asked all of us to write 200 word essay on what type of genres we wanted to read and why? I wrote my love for mystery and Sci-fi, how I would like to read and analyze Da Vine Code (13 year old me thought that was peak lit). Similarly my classmates also poured their heart on what they would love to read. The teachers instead of guiding us in our preferred genres, graded our papers. They told since I got a C - I will not have the capacity to read sci-fi and should stick to simple comedies. I remember a lot of my classmates feeling absolutely dejected, since the teachers made them feel that lacked the comprehension to read their fav book. So by the end of the month, most of us did not read any book.
I can't speak for public schools in the US, but my school made us read extremely boring texts, like Hawthorne and Coleridge... And we had to annotate every single line basically. You can see why many people associated it with being a chore. Thankfully i saw the merit in reading and moved past the highschool bs.
A lot of books need a lot of "world knowledge" bits and pieces you tend to pick up as you accumulate "years lived". Reading, in my opinion, needs to tie in with history and politics (better yet: both) because this is what usually informs the content. - Though it is a bit of a difficult thing; by reading these books you learn about their historical and political background - but in order to really be able to read them you need to know their historical and political background. The way testing on reading works is, either way, bs though. Reading books (and some other things too) just help you build focus-stamina - the whole thing about having to test certain things and not just staying with a novel for a while and talk about what's in there and what might be strange or what kind of ideas are in there and what might have informed those ideas is what kills reading - and more importantly: critical thinking. The most fun I had was in an AP class that combined history class and literature class; usually we'd talk about a certain historical context with all the names and dates and the greater context and whatnot --- and then read something from around that time and being able to pick up on all kinds of references that would've been considered "common knowledge" at the time of writing was something that I really enjoyed; things made sense. --- In regular literature class we just picked up some old book and, tbh, I don't know, were just expected to know that context? Sure, that was usually contemporary but teenagers don't have the contemporary knowledge needed to really understand simply because they haven't spent enough time living yet.
I finished college a couple of years ago. Tbh I don't think I had the attention span nor the motivation to read 'intellectual lit'. Now I read over 30 books per year (not that I'm counting), mostly less commercial texts, and looking back I think not doing this in college was the right thing because I would've been miserable.
Like food, our tastes are diverse when it comes to books. Saying that everyone should read, let alone enjoy, the classics, is akin to saying how nobody is allowed to not like a certain food because it's a staple.
I always had a complicated relationship with school in general and reading in particular. I was a Gifted Kid TM but I also had undiagnosed adhd and depression. So until grade 10 or so I didn’t have to try at all academically and then all of a sudden I didn’t know how to intuit calculus and failed it. I never did learn how to study. My report cards were no longer all A’s but a very comical splattering of A+s and Fs. When I was 10-12 or so I’d just stay home and read through my family’s books. Aristotle and Aurelius and giant multi-tome histories. And so I was always able to pretend to be much more competent than I was. In reality (and this is still true at 33) there are massive gaping holes in my understanding of things interspersed with a few hyper competencies in subjects of interest. I escaped into books like some of my peers escaped into the social world or substance abuse or video games. I couldn’t have designed a more pro-book circumstance for young me and yet, I definitely read far less now that smart phones are mandatory. I’ve read zero full books this year. My depression has been resurgent but that never used to be an obstacle. All that just to say, growing up now, with all the tech, the weaker social trust, the breakdown of families and communities, the general fear and anxiety of the hyper connected world. I don’t blame young people at all for not reading. It’s a major loss for everyone, of course, and the corporations have known how to mitigate the worst of excesses in their algorithms and simply choose not to. It’s a depressing circumstance and a difficult world to face with courage in one’s heart. Anyway, thanks for making a video on this subject, and thanks for giving a damn about kids and books. I hope this video blows up and starts a conversation.
Wow I can’t even remember how I ended up subscribing to you but I’m so glad I did for this video alone. I never read a single book in grade school because quite honestly none of the ones on the syllabus were marketed any better than the Bible. I’m 40 and started reading for enjoyment three years ago. I couldn’t believe how entertaining and insightful Catcher in the a Rye is. I also recently fell in love with To Kill a MB, lonesome dove, boys life, etc. I think the one book that changed the way I thought about literature was Less Than Zero. The concept that the structure of a sentence (or lack thereof) could enhance the vibe of the story being told honestly blew my mind. I didn’t feel good after reading it, but that was so intriguing.
I rediscovered The Great Gatsby when I was 26, and what a wonderous experience that was. But of course I didn't get it at 14 when I had no life experience to reflect on the book's insights. It is preposterous how we are often given these books at an age when we are nowhere ready for them all because they're classics and they're a 'must-read'.
Lets us make it crystal clear: if parents dont read, if books are not easily available at home. if your parents did not read to you then most likely the kids will not enjoy reading. Reading is like swimming if you want to do it with the grace of a penguin then you need hundred of hours of practice. If kids sont read hundreds of books then they will never do it with ease
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
My left ear is lonely.
I love your argument here. As someone with younger kids (not yet in high school) who wants to foster a love of reading in our family, I absolutely agree with you that all reading is good reading. Kids and adults who feel confident enjoying books will be more likely to sit down and read for hours, and that reading muscle will be strengthened over time.
Schools really do everything to kills the joy of reading.
TL;DR: How my teachers demotivated us from reading on national reading month.
I still remember when my school wanted to inculcate a reading habit and started a national reading month. To foster the environment, they asked all of us to write 200 word essay on what type of genres we wanted to read and why? I wrote my love for mystery and Sci-fi, how I would like to read and analyze Da Vine Code (13 year old me thought that was peak lit). Similarly my classmates also poured their heart on what they would love to read. The teachers instead of guiding us in our preferred genres, graded our papers. They told since I got a C - I will not have the capacity to read sci-fi and should stick to simple comedies. I remember a lot of my classmates feeling absolutely dejected, since the teachers made them feel that lacked the comprehension to read their fav book. So by the end of the month, most of us did not read any book.
I can't speak for public schools in the US, but my school made us read extremely boring texts, like Hawthorne and Coleridge... And we had to annotate every single line basically. You can see why many people associated it with being a chore. Thankfully i saw the merit in reading and moved past the highschool bs.
Exactly. It shouldn't be a chore, and even if for the sake of education it should always be balanced out with reading for pleasure.
A lot of books need a lot of "world knowledge" bits and pieces you tend to pick up as you accumulate "years lived". Reading, in my opinion, needs to tie in with history and politics (better yet: both) because this is what usually informs the content. - Though it is a bit of a difficult thing; by reading these books you learn about their historical and political background - but in order to really be able to read them you need to know their historical and political background.
The way testing on reading works is, either way, bs though.
Reading books (and some other things too) just help you build focus-stamina - the whole thing about having to test certain things and not just staying with a novel for a while and talk about what's in there and what might be strange or what kind of ideas are in there and what might have informed those ideas is what kills reading - and more importantly: critical thinking. The most fun I had was in an AP class that combined history class and literature class; usually we'd talk about a certain historical context with all the names and dates and the greater context and whatnot --- and then read something from around that time and being able to pick up on all kinds of references that would've been considered "common knowledge" at the time of writing was something that I really enjoyed; things made sense. --- In regular literature class we just picked up some old book and, tbh, I don't know, were just expected to know that context? Sure, that was usually contemporary but teenagers don't have the contemporary knowledge needed to really understand simply because they haven't spent enough time living yet.
this video is amazing and puts into words exactly how i’ve felt about reading in school!
I finished college a couple of years ago. Tbh I don't think I had the attention span nor the motivation to read 'intellectual lit'. Now I read over 30 books per year (not that I'm counting), mostly less commercial texts, and looking back I think not doing this in college was the right thing because I would've been miserable.
Like food, our tastes are diverse when it comes to books. Saying that everyone should read, let alone enjoy, the classics, is akin to saying how nobody is allowed to not like a certain food because it's a staple.
I always had a complicated relationship with school in general and reading in particular.
I was a Gifted Kid TM but I also had undiagnosed adhd and depression. So until grade 10 or so I didn’t have to try at all academically and then all of a sudden I didn’t know how to intuit calculus and failed it. I never did learn how to study. My report cards were no longer all A’s but a very comical splattering of A+s and Fs.
When I was 10-12 or so I’d just stay home and read through my family’s books. Aristotle and Aurelius and giant multi-tome histories. And so I was always able to pretend to be much more competent than I was. In reality (and this is still true at 33) there are massive gaping holes in my understanding of things interspersed with a few hyper competencies in subjects of interest. I escaped into books like some of my peers escaped into the social world or substance abuse or video games.
I couldn’t have designed a more pro-book circumstance for young me and yet, I definitely read far less now that smart phones are mandatory. I’ve read zero full books this year. My depression has been resurgent but that never used to be an obstacle. All that just to say, growing up now, with all the tech, the weaker social trust, the breakdown of families and communities, the general fear and anxiety of the hyper connected world. I don’t blame young people at all for not reading. It’s a major loss for everyone, of course, and the corporations have known how to mitigate the worst of excesses in their algorithms and simply choose not to. It’s a depressing circumstance and a difficult world to face with courage in one’s heart.
Anyway, thanks for making a video on this subject, and thanks for giving a damn about kids and books. I hope this video blows up and starts a conversation.
And also the growing problem of how we teach a critical understanding of what we do read.
Great counterargument with interesting points. Definite food for thought. Thank you.
the audio in the video only plays in one ear of my headphones :(
I'm not sure why this is happening but I will watch out for this next time.
The cat is adorable 😍
im watching this video while taking notes of the books on your shelves😆
Wow I can’t even remember how I ended up subscribing to you but I’m so glad I did for this video alone. I never read a single book in grade school because quite honestly none of the ones on the syllabus were marketed any better than the Bible.
I’m 40 and started reading for enjoyment three years ago. I couldn’t believe how entertaining and insightful Catcher in the a Rye is. I also recently fell in love with To Kill a MB, lonesome dove, boys life, etc.
I think the one book that changed the way I thought about literature was Less Than Zero. The concept that the structure of a sentence (or lack thereof) could enhance the vibe of the story being told honestly blew my mind. I didn’t feel good after reading it, but that was so intriguing.
I rediscovered The Great Gatsby when I was 26, and what a wonderous experience that was. But of course I didn't get it at 14 when I had no life experience to reflect on the book's insights. It is preposterous how we are often given these books at an age when we are nowhere ready for them all because they're classics and they're a 'must-read'.
Lets us make it crystal clear: if parents dont read, if books are not easily available at home. if your parents did not read to you then most likely the kids will not enjoy reading. Reading is like swimming if you want to do it with the grace of a penguin then you need hundred of hours of practice. If kids sont read hundreds of books then they will never do it with ease
Kitty! ❤️🐾
What an abrupt end to the video, otherwise good video
Yeah I wanted to make this a short video but I guess it really is abrupt. I'll make an outro next time. Appreciate the feedback.