Bookmarked The Atlantic Did Me Dirty by (Carrie M. Santo-Thomas)
Early this summer I was interviewed by Rose Horowitch, an editor for The Atlantic. She told me that she had heard from a university professor that incoming students were struggling to keep up with the reading load. She explained that she was working on an article that would explore the problem of reading stamina and asked me to share my experiences in the high school classroom.
Early this summer I was interviewed by Rose Horowitch, an editor for The Atlantic. She told me that she had heard from a university professor that incoming students were struggling to keep up with the reading load. She explained that she was working on an article that would explore the problem of reading stamina and asked me to share my experiences in the high school classroom.
Rather, my experience is that young readers are eminently capable of critically engaging in long form content, but theyβre rightfully demanding a seat at the table where decisions about texts are being made.
Thought that Atlantic article seemed sus. I see this skepticism of curricula as rooted in the growing distrust in experts and the cultural elite / college, and part of the attempt to undermine public education. It’s also tied to our collective sense of precarity and the need many parents feel to give their kids a leg up.
I’m thinking of Anne Helen Petersen’s reporting on Bama Rush — these college students’ Outfits of the Day are performing high class style through a mix of expensive designer pieces and cheap-cheap nonbrand socially approved ones. Something I took away (which may not be true? π€·ββοΈ) was that their generation has a different perspective on taste that doesn’t map perfectly to traditional expectations of high or low class (or maybe is just more of how highbrow appropriates lowbrow). I’m wondering if that aligns with different understandings of cultural works like books – that the cultural meaning of a book is not solely bound to its literary cred, but how your cohort experiences it, because others’ reactions are now so embedded in our lives?
As a teen, I made myself read a number of older books because they were considered “classics;” some I enjoyed (Tom Jones), while others I found to be unrelatable for my age (Angle of Repose), dull (Foundation), or even toxic (Wuthering Heights). I wanted to show that I was smart, and thought that was how I could. Now I believe that books can become culturally irrelevant as they age, and we needn’t venerate old books simply because previous generations found them meaningful, if they are no longer resonant.
When I was in HS, there was a book another student told me was terrible, and I begged my teacher not to make me read it; he made a deal with me that if I didn’t like it, I could switch to a different book. It turned out the book (iirc) was great so we didn’t need the deal, but I think the teacher handled it well: it showed me he respected me and wouldn’t force me to continue something I loathed, but prompted me to try it and form my own opinion. I learned to pay closer attention to who I took book reviews from, and to give books a chance while knowing I could quit ones I disliked.
I’m not a proponent of reading books one dislikes per se, but rather recognizing when a book is worth reading regardless of whether it aligns with my taste. I persevered through The Satanic Verses, which even inspired me to draw fan art π The Sparrow appalled me, and Peter Darling unsettled me with its violence, but I think about them both relatively often. I put stock in interesting as much as entertaining or even good when I’m choosing what to keep reading; I value seeing an artist executing their vision (even if they fall short). I think having agency to choose whether or not to read a book is helpful, especially for uncomfortable works.
See also:
My Reading Philosophy in 17 Guidelines
