Student Death Sentence

Your sitting is small, stuffy room. Your scared stiff and from looking around you can see that everyone else in the room is just as terrified. Suddenly you hear heavy footsteps approaching you, you see a dark body leaning over you. SLAP! A packet of paper drops heavily onto your desk. That's right its the dreaded Summer Reading Assignment.

We've all been through it, and some of us are going through it now. Students are forced to read assigned books over the summer and complete assignments on them. For some, it is simply an unpleasant task that needs to get done. These kids don't let the assignments taint their love of reading. For most however, summer reading and school assignments is like a death sentence, one that obliterates any interest in reading.

The problem with Summer reading is that its structure sabotages its purpose. It is meant to foster a love of reading, especially in younger students. However, by choosing the books for the students teachers are instead fostering contempt for reading. Imagine this: you walk into a bookstore looking for a good read. Suddenly, an employee walks up to you and says, "I'm sorry, but you can only buy one of these twenty approved books." What if you were not interested in any of the books? What if there was a book that you really wanted to read that wasn't on that list? Would you be angry? Would ever come back to that store? Well that's how most students feel about Summer Reading and they apply those feeling of frustration and anger towards all books and reading.

My suggestion is that instead of offering a limited list of required titles, teachers should offer suggestions. How hard would it be to say, "OK you assignment is to choose a book that is 200 pages long, read it over the summer, and make a poster, movie, or power point about it." This way, teachers know the kids are reading at their level while the kids feel in control and enjoy reading about a topic of their choice. I understand, at the high school level at least one classic has to be read to jump start the curriculum, but the free reading book still needs to be fun.

Until, teachers, librarians, and principles realize the flaws of summer reading the book hatred epidemic will continue to spread. Case in point, almost 75% of my Honors 11 English class rarely opens a book, including those assigned during the school year. It's time to turn the page in summer reading and start a new chapter in which the characters are bookworm students.