3. While I'm a book person, and while I would rather people read far more books than they did, I think it's inaccurate to say that Americans, especially young Americans don't read. All that time they spend on the Internet isn't just viewing porn and playing World of Warcraft. They're reading all the time. And often, at least if it goes to their passion, they're often reading at a quite sophisticated level.
"Rockmolder" wrote:
Exactly. I'd nearly call for a change in the educational system. Over here, I had to read 4 books a year for Dutch and 3 for English every year for the last 3 years in high school. They had a list full of boring/childish/dry books. I never did it. I just went on the internet, read a summary and read a page or two so I could bring up somethign specific. Undoubtedly, you know how that works.
Now, one year later, I have to travel by a bus a lot. In that same bus, I've done more reading that in my entire high school career. I bought Total Access by Rich Eisen and am halfway through the book in just about 2 weeks (Yeah, still not THAT much of a reader).
Point being, when you give the freedom to actually let them pick something they're interested in, they'll read. I think that when you start with something they like, you can eventually push the most boring books on them, as they've found out that reading actually can be fun.
Of course, that's just my wild theory. You ought to know a little more about this, being a long time teacher and all.
"Wade" wrote: