Common reads taught in schools today are William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” and numerous works by Shakespeare. What do all of these pieces have in common? They are all classic works of literature.
Each of these books cover thought-provoking and historical themes that have been or currently are important in modern society, such as dictatorship, tragedy and civilization. The relevant topics that these works acknowledge, despite their dated writing style and structure, remain in our current curricula, but this may not be what students are looking for today.
It’s almost an unspoken law amongst teenagers that reading could give just as much enjoyment as video games and being out with friends, but only on specific, individualized terms.
Most students prefer to select their own books and genres on their own time. This gives them the ability to read in their own space without adding extra pressure onto themselves by annotating and rushing for class discussions. The additional requirements that come with book projects often causes many students to dislike reading, and it even causes some students to go out of their way to avoid it as much as possible.
Some schools, such as Lockport, have created a compromise by implementing book projects that allow students to select a book that interests them while still encouraging them to pace themselves properly and explore different topics. This provides an opportunity for student choice, and the curriculum is still upheld.
According to a study from the University of Florida, within the past 20 years the number of people reading daily as a hobby has significantly decreased. Some may believe that the decline in the percentage of readers was caused by the pandemic, but reading scores in America have been decreasing since even before then.
The NEA has reported that in 2022, readers of the fiction genre alone had dropped to 38 percent, a considerable decrease from the 45 percent results a decade prior. This has had an impact on school performance as shown in the Fall 2022-2023 school year NAEP Long-Term Trend Assessment results, where the average scores for 13-year-old students declined 4 points in the reading segment of the exam.
There could be many possible reasons for the decline; however, the shared belief among many students is that school-mandated reading makes the activity more difficult and dull. If educators wish to see an increase in enjoyment of reading amongst students, they should allow them to have more freedom in their choices of material.
