On forced reading.

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
7,095
35,344
Macroverse
SwiftDogs don't like being forced to do anything they don't want to! That includes reading books that were yawn inspiring, boring, outdated, and overrated.

That said, I always did well in my English and Lit classes. I would read whatever was assigned during the school year. Some I liked. Most I didn't.

The thing I TRULY despised was the summer reading list. Why should I read crap I don't want to on MY time?! I don't think I ever read one thing on my summer list. They would give us multiple choice tests on what we were assigned. A couple times the assigned reading was something I had already read on my own. No problem there. For stuff I had never read before, I'd just randomly guess at the answers. Most times I'd end up with a barely passion grade but those exams didn't count much towards our grade for that semester.
 

do1you9love?

Happy to be here!
Feb 18, 2012
9,284
70,566
Virginia
I'll read a cereal box to entertain myself.
Hey, sister!! Been known to do that, too!!!:laugh:

I was lucky in that 1) I enjoyed most of what we were assigned to read, 2) I also got to choose some things along the way, and 3) we didn't have to "annotate" and "highlight examples of ...." like my daughter is being made to do. She still enjoys reading, but the picking apart really does take you out of the story and makes you lose the enjoyment.

Editing to add: The Canterbury Tales by Chaucher were my LEAST favorite "forced reading".
 
Last edited:

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
7,068
29,564
Other
To Kill a Mockingbird I originally discovered as a movie. I decided my daughter would be named Scout. When I saw it was a book, of course I had to read it. Tom Sawyer was another I never had assigned. I managed to find it to read with my son. We read together every night. I forgot....Tom teaches how to smoke. :a24: And the book also uses the N word. I decided it was a good opportunity to discuss it. I also know that when you hear or say or read a word a lot it is possible for it to slip out of your mouth. So we discussed that and decided we would just say n.
 

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
7,068
29,564
Other
:no_pig::no_pig:retired teacher here-- not good advice. It got me in trouble back in HS and it will do the same with you. Much of these exercises in analyzing writing style and author's meaning is to teach about structure, to use your imagination as to why things were laid out in that manner. Some author are very generous in explaining their methods and reasons why they did this or that. Have you ever compared your teacher's interpretation to an actual interview by an author? Then and only then can you make a statement of disagreement and have proof. Just read to enjoy.

My argument was....how do you know what Robert Frost meant...did you ask him? I didn’t care how many “experts” said this or that, unless Mr. Frost himself said it you cannot know...and therefore you cannot dock me marks for disagreeing.
 

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
7,068
29,564
Other
How old was your daughter when you read this? A book we had to read in 7th grade used that word very freely.

My son was grade 3 or 4. Please don’t judge me. I felt he was ready and I have no regrets. I also used Stephen King as a bribery. You want to watch that movie? Not unless you can read the book first. Kids were older for that, but younger than some would allow their kids to read or watch. Worked too. The kid I bribed with King introduced me to a lot of books I never would have found on my own.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
Well, I know this one is beloved by many and wasn't exactly a forced "read," but a forced "listen to this."

Sixth grade, the teacher read Where the Red Fern Grows to us and I sort of blotted it out. I mean, what I paid attention to was good, I just don't like to read/hear sad animal stories.

Besides, I had The Godfather waiting in my desk.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
I also hate how they teach how every book has some sort of message. Lol what? What’s the message in The Silence of The Lambs? Not to skin people? They just won’t let you enjoy a story and interpret the implications in your own way
Easy.

You put the lotion on the skin or else you get the hose again.

Learn it, know it, live it.
 

Wayoftheredpanda

Flaming Wonder Telepath
May 15, 2018
4,907
22,094
20
Sixth grade, the teacher read Where the Red Fern Grows to us and I sort of blotted it out. I mean, what I paid attention to was good, I just don't like to read/hear sad animal stories.

Besides, I had The Godfather waiting in my desk.
If you didn’t want to read it you should’ve made your teacher an offer he couldn’t refuse.