Encourage Reading

Ted's Column for the Mapleton PRESS- Thursday, November 8, 2007

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." ~Groucho Marx

Nothing is quite so discouraging for teachers than hearing students complain about how much they dislike reading. Some kids claim that reading is boring. If that’s the problem, they just need to look a little harder to find something to read that interests them.
It’s more likely that it’s work. Kids call things “work” not just when they’re dull, but also when they’re difficult. Farm families know that some of the best things in life are the result of hard work.

I try to help students see that it is an upwardly moving spiral; the more you read the better you get at it, the better you get at it the easier it is, the easier it is the less work it is, the less work it is the more fun it is, the more fun it is the more you’ll want to do it, the more you do it, the smarter you’ll get… and so on.

Somehow over the years some kids have gotten the idea that it’s somehow “uncool” to be smart. Popular culture dictates that people who like to read or who have broad vocabularies are somehow either nerdy or untrustworthy. What’s “cool” is to be crude, thick-headed and “red-neck.” I have no problem with being proud of one’s working-class roots. Love Country music, trucks in the mud, beer, hunting and NASCAR. I like most of that stuff myself, but being willing to get your hands dirty and going out of your way to not be a snob does not mean you have to be dumb as a stump.

Knowledge, learning, reading and curiosity should never be things that only belong to people who are rich enough or good enough or sissy enough. And schools and teachers will never be able to make you any smarter than reading on your own will.

Back in the 1500’s Martin Luther encouraged families to teach their children and communities to start schools for everyone’s children so that everyone could learn to read. His main reason was so that people could read their Bibles for themselves and have personal relationships with God, rather than waiting to hear a little bit about God on Sundays.

Thomas Jefferson and many of the founding fathers advocated free universal public education because they wanted everyone, including poor children to be able to read so that they could be better informed and able to participate in our democracy. Jefferson felt so strongly about it, he proposed an amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing a right to education. His proposal got shot down, and he instead focused his energy on the University of Virginia.

During the turn of the last century Steel baron Andrew Carnegie poured his fortunes into 2,500 public and university libraries because he wanted to give other people the opportunity for learning and self-improvement that he had as a child in Scotland. That commitment to reading no doubt helped to spur many an entrepreneur and helped build the middle-class of the twentieth century.

Let’s face it, you’re sitting here with a newspaper in your hands, so obviously I am “preaching to the choir.” If you hated reading, you we wouldn’t be having this chat.
So what can we do to encourage other people to read- especially kids? There are all kinds of things. It starts with attitude.

Research suggests that the most critical aspect of reading is how a child feels about reading. Positive reinforcement is important. Kids need to know that adults they know care about reading.

How can you do that? Ask them what they’re reading, ask them to tell you about whatever they’re reading. Talk to them about whatever you’ve been reading and what you enjoyed about it.

Let them see you read. Give books and magazine subscriptions as gifts- you can write in side the front cover like you would in a card, this will make it an even more special gift. Why not give a subscription to the PRESS to your 18 to twenty-something relatives for Christmas whether they’re off in college or not?

Let them read what they want. If they’re not interested in Jayne Eyre, so what? Is it so bad if they’re reading Sports Illustrated, Cosmo Teen, Progressive Farmer, or Spiderman comic books? Hey they’re still reading. When you were young you drank McDonald’s orange drink and Tang, now as an adult you have no problem with grapefruit juice and double-decaf fat free soy milk mocha lattes. Maybe your kids will never read Leo Tolstoy, but eventually they’ll graduate to James Patterson and John Grisham. So long as they’re reading, that’s the important thing.
Have books in your house, have them in your child’s room. Read out loud, you’d be surprised that even older kids enjoy this. Don’t be embarrassed if you have a hard time reading out loud, that will only show them that they don’t have to be embarrassed.

If you do feel confident in your own reading, make it fun by spicing it up a bit with silly voices or dramatic expression. That will exercise their imaginations.
Take kids to a book store or library and let them pick out their own books. Make it a regular family outing.

Donate your old books to your local school or public library. Donate your time to that same school or library to help kids. You don’t have to read to a whole room full of kids or serve as some expert tutor- many schools have volunteer programs where all you have to do is listen to the students read, maybe gently coaching them along.

You can get lots of other ideas online at places like http://www.rif.org (RIF stands for Reading Is Fundamental).

Remind kids that reading gets easier and more fun, the more you do it. And the more you do it, the smarter you get and after all, knowledge is power. Above all, let them know that reading isn’t dumb, dorky, or lame. Reading opens opportunity.