I LOVE this post and then this discussion about it from the comments section:
"More sour grapes?
It’s commendable to appreciate the kids one has rather than constantly trying to change them into the kids one wanted, but it’s ridiculous to keep going off on the things one’s kids don’t do as if they’re useless.
Reading is a great way to learn. Perhaps it’s a great way to learn for only a minority of the population, but that doesn’t matter unless your job is teaching large groups of certain demographics. Each one of us is in a minority somehow.
My ability to learn through reading was fundamental to my success. Perhaps I would have had other core skills were I a different person, but reading has served me well. I went from a series of terrible rural schools to a PhD and a six figure salary, which wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t like to read and learn from reading.
Most people whose kids like to read (my boy just found Harry Potter, which ought to take care of him for a while) feel happy about it because we know that reading is the easiest way to gain vocabulary and learn grammar, which will be relevant in testing, college, and the professions. I know that standard middle-class track gets pooh-poohed here a lot, but most of us wouldn’t be here without it, and most of our kids will follow it to some extent.
In our specific case, my son hopes to test into a local exam school. Liking to read will be sufficient on its own to get an acceptable score on the reading sections. If he didn’t like to read (and learn by reading), he’d need intensive tutoring to be able to pass the test. Later on, if he still wants to go to college for mechanical engineering, he’ll have to be able to read and write well to get in. This won’t happen without reading; even if the only learning resulting from reading were just the form of language itself, that would be sufficiently important.
It’s fair game to ridicule the “excellent sheep” of Mr. Deresiewicz’ epic rant, but the truth is that if you want to work in the professions, you have to read just to get there, let alone succeed. Just because you don’t want that path for your children, or they’re not inclined to succeed on it, doesn’t mean it’s useless for everybody else.
When I feel sad at the idea that my son will no longer be at home with me, one of the things I realize I’ll miss is reading with him. I would have liked to host a great books course for older kids. Perhaps I’ll find a way to do that anyway.
You misunderstand the point of the post.
I am not saying whether or not readers should read. This post is not about readers. This post is about non-readers and how we tell them they should read.
The post is also about how dull it becomes to extol the glories of reading when less than half the human race likes to do it. And when it has been more natural throughout the evolution of humans to learn by doing.
There is a whole half of humanity that is very smart but does not like to read. They learn just fine and they learn many things you cannot learn in a book.
I wrote the post because I did not know about this until I had a son who doesn’t like to read. I never even really understood that there were smart people who don’t read.
And it’s a problem that school has no way to teach by doing or copying, so school overemphasizes reading and then people who like to read think that somehow they are smarter or better for liking to read.
I know, because I was raised to be one of those people. And I think it’s short-sighted and self-aggrandizing.
Penelope
Posted by Penelope Trunk on August 4, 2015 at 11:21 am | permalink | Reply
- The points you make in your reply are good, and would have been a good addition to your original post.I remember when I was a kid there seemed to be more of a place in school for learning that didn’t require reading. Shop class, for example. And we used to have more of an apprenticeship system in this country (as they still do in Germany). I’d like to see that brought back.It’s quite clear to me, for example, that I am a mediocre mechanic and carpenter. The simplest things (changing a battery, or making a shelf) are inordinate challenges to me. Other people have greater skills in non-verbal learning and coordination that make them better at this sort of thing. I am astounded by the work of the fellow I hired to fix the siding and sills on my bays. I honestly could never make those joints, and it’s a good thing I figured that out as a teenager.I agree with you that our schools focus too narrowly on a certain set of skills and systems of learning, and it is not very kind of those of us who are very good at such sets and systems to ignore that problem. Having children who learn best through non-verbal means and who don’t like to read is yet another good reason to homeschool.My initial response, however, was to what you wrote in the post. It’s not based on a misunderstanding but a misstatement. If you wouldn’t like someone to react negatively to you saying that reading is no way to learn, you oughtn’t say “In short, reading is no way to learn.” That continues to be untrue; reading is a great way to learn, though perhaps not for everybody. Hyperbole does clarity a disservice.Posted by Bostonian on August 5, 2015 at 4:14 am
