As an elementary school aged child, I was taught two things: if you read books you were smart, if you didn’t read books/didn’t like to read books, you were stupid. This wasn’t a direct lesson, it was more or less taught by people saying “books make you smart.” And since I thought I didn’t like to read, I must have been stupid. And, I later understood that the lessons they taught us were very harmful ones:
Instead of teaching us that reading something you love is important, teachers shamed me and permitted me from reading books below my “grade’s reading level.” But I fell in love with books below my reading level. When I was forced to stop reading them, I stopped reading.
Every spring would be reading season where you had to, I’m not kidding, read 25 books in a few months. I read mostly picture books for this but they didn’t count. I was punished for reading slow. Instead of being able to go on a field trip to a baseball game, me and one other kid were labeled “lazy” and had to sit in the same science lecture the whole day.
I could keep going on and on. There were reading comprehension tests we had to take where we read a short story and had to sit in the hallway with a teacher who asked us questions about it. But instead of asking us about the meaning of the story or deeper questions, we would be asked “how many apples did John pick?” and when I couldn’t remember these hyper specific things, I would break down crying and I was told my reading level was far below the rest of my class’s reading level.
No wonder people quit reading later in life. No wonder I talk to people about a great book I’ve read and they say “I don’t read, I’m not smart.”
It’s sad, it’s traumatic, it’s toxic. How do we fix this so kids never have to feel ashamed to read? How do we teach adults to love to read after this childhood trauma?
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Omg thank you for posting this. I had similar issues which forced me to believe I was stupid until I was about 17 years old. The education system is messed up. I now have a diploma, 2 undergrad degrees and a masters degree. Who’s stupid now.
If you’re not remembering facts of the story it does mean your comprehension wasn’t great and you probably didn’t catch the deeper meaning either
Let me preface this by saying I’m a public school teacher….😝 Yes, school can very often bring about the opposite change we hope to see. It’s very frustrating. I am a math teacher and similar things happen with that, too - the joy of mathematics is lost to kids at a young age and it becomes something difficult, boring, and “useless”. It’s frustrating and on a personal level I try to combat this, but its definitely a structural problem.
Former English major and library worker here, I’m so sorry your experience was so negative. It sounds like the educators you worked with were overly prescriptive and used punishment in areas where it probably wasn’t appropriate. I do think a lot of the reason people become reluctant readers is shame both around what they read and how they read, as well as a lot of people only reading things specifically assigned to them in school.
So, how to start towards remedying this . I agree with others saying that starting reading to and later with kids as early as possible is crucial. Encouraging kids to explore and find stories that they enjoy in combination with books that are culturally important and that work to build their reading level is also important, but a lot of people only focus on one. From what you said about liking picture books, it probably would have been more appropriate for your teacher to have encouraged you to slowly transition by mixing in middle grade graphic novels and chapter books rather than scorning you. Books are, after all, a form of instruction and entertainment just like movies or art. You can’t only consume junk food books that aren’t challenging you or promoting growth, but at the time if you never read anything you actually enjoy there is a high probability you will lose interest in reading. There also needs to be more awareness and sensitivity towards kids with diverse learning styles or disabilities who may struggle with reading.
I think there has historically been a lot of elitism and judgement surrounding reading that needs to be set aside. I think some of the mentality you mention has also fueled anti-intellectualism among people who struggle with reading. It seems to have gotten better in recent years, but overall adult literacy rates are stunningly low, and that is only damaging to society as a whole.
My mother was an English teacher and she read to us every night until I was around 13. I think it made a world of a difference.
Oh, your post breaks my heart. 💔 I’m a librarian, and I hope you are able to read peacefully now, at whatever pace is comfy for you and whatever books you find fun and interesting!
I was always shocked at my lowish scores in “reading comprehension” as a kid, because I LOVED to read and thought I was good at it. I had the same problem as you. I was paying attention to different things than the number of dang apples.
My best recommendation for adults is to go to a library. They are judgement-free book palaces where you can borrow whatever books you want, ask the librarian for book suggestions, and sit and read (often in a beautiful environment) for as long as you please. My favorite library was built in the 90s and has a 90s vibe to it that reminds me of when I was a kid. It is a place of healing. ☺️
I would use subtitles to help.
I find it confusing why people talk themselves down when I bring up a book. It’s not necessary, I’m talking up a book, let me sell you what I am reading.
Also helps if they see you read.
I hate and despise how the system of reading levels has transmuted, like so many good ideas, from a set of useful guidelines and a diagnostic tool to a set of rigid rules inflexibly applied by inferior minds.
Don’t have much to add, other then man, that is a horrific way to “force” reading! I’m not sure your age(I’m in my 30’s) but in Canada, I was basically given free reign to read what I wanted from a very early age. My parents let me read complex history and tech books, and I borrowed Star Wars novels well above what a grade 5 student should have been reading. I was at a grade 11 level by grade 6. Being allowed to read what I want made me a very good student…in English, Social Science, and History at least!
Oddly enough, I read a lot less now. A concussion will do that to you. It’s not that I find reading boring, it’s that I find it a lot more difficult now, and if I read for too long I get dizzy and sick.
Honestly I think forcing people to read gives them resentment. Same with a lot of the subjects forced upon us in school.
My parents approach seemed to work. We went to the library weekly and got however many books I wanted (usually more than I’d realistically finish in a week) and the deal was I had to read one book each week that was the librarian’s recommendation. We had great librarians. I got so much good stuff from them.
That morphed into my parents bookshelves always being accessible, though when I was younger the stuff I shouldn’t read was sorted to top shelves (naturally, this meant I dragged chairs over to reach the top shelves but such has always been the case with prohibited literature).
My parents simply normalizing that taking a book out of the bookshelf or off the coffee table it had been left on made it normal for me too. ‘Oh, dad got his book, sat down on the couch and is quietly reading? Dad’s pretty cool, maybe I should do that too. Where’s my book so I can read like Dad does?’
As an adult, I also find that just talking to kids (nieces/nephews for me) about what they like re: books in an inquisitive, non-judgemental way is helpful. I don’t really give two flying effs if they’re reading Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia, or being the stupid 12yo overfaced by trying to read Moby Dick cause they love going to the aquarium. The magic of ingesting a story and then being able to recount it to others is pretty powerful. Then reading gives a kid something to say if someone is willing to ask. My nieces and nephews know I’ll always ask what the best thing they’ve read lately is, and for them to tell me about it. We’ll eat ice cream while we do it on a special outing, but they know their uncle asks about books so there’s always one in the hopper to talk about.
When they get old enough to have their own preferences I’ve loved the Barnes and Noble outing idea. Starbucks is there usually, so turn a kid loose (assuming they’re well behaved) in their age appropriate section and just let them be while you sip a latte and let them wander the aisles. Set a limit (‘you can pick only two’, but they can pick any two books they want) and suddenly they’re considering carefully exactly which two they want to bring home and the selection is valuable and ownable instead of foisted on them. Make books valuable and kids treasure them.
We started reading to our children (twins)from the very beginning. We also had them signed up for The Dolly Parton Imagination Library. They received a book every month to read until they turned 5. At the beginning of PK4 we began a 1,000 Books before Kindergarten challenge through our local library. And now this year they have the Millionaire challenge (read 1 million words before the end of the year. We finished that up last month.
All that being said our “reader” child is reading at a 1st grade level mid year and the “artist” is at 1st grade beginning of the year.
All of the credit goes to their mom who is more intelligent and academically driven than I am.
As a stupid person who reads a lot, especially as a kid, reading is just another form of entertainment. I’m glad I was never forced to view it as anything more than that. Thanks Mom!
This was not even close to the experience I had in school or my kids, I’ve always found the teachers here very flexible with reading. They encouraged reading other books and reading to your child if they didn’t want to.
I don’t say this to minimize your experience, just to say that there a lot of teachers who try to inspire kids to read as well, and maybe that needs to be followed. I’m not sure what the protocol is. I’m sorry that you didn’t have that experience.
When I was in 3rd grade, I still loved reading picture books, especially the “Meet the President” book series. In the beginning of 4th grade, i attempted to read a book of my own choosing that didn’t have pictures.
I unknowingly picked a dry tome about Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell without pictures - I couldn’t stand reading it. So I resigned myself to reading only picture books.
That changed when my 4th grade Reading Teacher assigned the whole class the books “Baby Island” and then “Island of the Blue Dolphins.”
Her class assignments included projects like writing a cook book for recipes that we would use if we were stranded on a deserted island.
Creative tasks that entailed us actively imagining ourselves in far off lands. Basically our version of 4th Grade “Survivor.”
That was so important to help me transition to liking books without pictures.
I became a bookworm as a result of these class activities - fewer books to read together as a class, but meaningful authentic assessments that engaged our imagination. I got hooked on reading!