You used to love reading. What happened?

The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare:
skl.sh/mancarryingthing07221
So much of our reading habits are formed by the harmful expectations placed on us as children. I want to talk about a very bad reading system enforced in many schools, Accelerated Reader.
FOR HOURS OF ENDLESS ENTERTAINMENT: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf
Excellent post about AR: blog.penningtonpublishing.com...
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#books

[@ManCarryingThing]

The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/mancarryingthing07221

[@user-sv5kt8qz3v]

who asked

[@avataraarow]

Books.

[@sehbaanabbasi]

I've been home schooled so I don't know what system they use the schools I went to btw from Pakistan I am they just left us in a library to fuck around so I guess it was a good thing like my friends and I did stumble up on some books we got because of sheer interest Also I have only read a very few and selected amount of books but all of them were by sheer interest which meant that I read them to death . I've always read fiction too I think a good way of implementing a reading habit is to read the books to the children ( at a very young age ) and then tell them to find out what happened next on their own. My father used to read me a book and soon enough when he got busy with work I just asked him to give me the book so I can finish it for myself My English teacher had this trick back in me school where he discussed the lore of the book asked us what would we write if we were the author which really engaged us to read more . We used to end up spending entire sessions with discussing new books and story ideas which btw effected our syllabus lol

[@sehbaanabbasi]

@Juicebox tha Homie so they can milk the money out of you when you past the free trail without notifying you Capitalism boys

[@overdose8329]

I can’t relate to the US experience at all but I basically still stopped reading anything halfway through highschool

[@lovetolovefairytales]

The schools couldn't teach me to read. The teachers told my mom I was slow; my mom told them screw it I'll teach her myself. And she did. I'm a writer now.

[@greckles7821]

My Mom hired a tutor who taught me to read, and pretty soon I had soared above my classmates. I am now also a writer (aspiring) and I owe it all to my Mom and a tutor. Those two women saved my future and gave me one of the greatest gifts of life. Cheers to all the moms, tutors and teachers who won't give up on their kids, and may we endeavor to build systems that see their potential and help them reach it with joy!

[@hayk3000]

Both you and your mom are badass.

[@lovetolovefairytales]

@@somedork7389 she is.

[@philcollinslover56705]

wow thats so cool. are you currently writing a book?

[@dukeofmars4847]

How awesome!

[@VSpoodle]

Good ol' AR. Incentivizing kids to quick-skim and read for Points, and if you didn't read what was in the system, you were punished. I was reading the Unfortunate Events books in 5th Grade. All were in the system...except the newest book, but I read the newest book assuming it would be in like all the others. Nope. I still remember the teacher asking why I would read that book over one in the system, as if I purposely chose to break a rule.

[@VSpoodle]

this video apparently triggered a deep resentment for AR I didn't remember I had, thanks btw

[@MagusMarquillin]

You broke the rule of not giving the system dominance of your psyche, and gave over to selfish enjoyment of story. Hope your teacher wasn't always so clueless. :)

[@headphonic8]

Wow this sounds miserable

[@benjisaac]

My school was nothing like that and would encourage us to read whatever we wanted in terms of it being relevant enough to be in the system but I read the first unfortunate events book and was blocked from taking the quiz because it was .1 below my range? My teachers were very unsympathetic about it and I never read any of the others

[@PogieJoe]

Still such a banger of a series.

[@j.67]

In the 90s we had a teacher ban Goosebumps from her classroom because they weren't "sophisticated" enough for our grade level. Phew! Kids were almost starting to enjoy reading. Good thing someone put an end to it!

[@deepfriedmilk258]

EXACTLY!! Why does it matter that the book is "beneath you" for one reason or another maybe it's too short or "childish" or not in your reading level but why does it matter? If you can get kids to like reading it doesn't matter what book it is so long as they enjoy it it's so stupid when they do that stuff

[@user-xx2mb6jj4o]

I remember in primary school our teacher used to take us to the library and said pick a book you like. If you don't want to read you don't have to. Only a quarter of the students actually read, but we all enjoyed it and our love for books only grew in later grades. It's like if you let the kids choose what interests them they will actually enjoy reading🤔

[@Rolando_Cueva]

Dimitri sounds like a Russian name.

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

The corporatization of education, with its emphasis on standardized tests and bogus data, has sucked the life out of learning and numbed the souls of millions of innocent children.

[@ManCarryingThing]

100%

[@lucioledizerot196]

I used to read loads mostly because I had nothing else to do. Now, I have too many stimuli around me preventing me to force myself to fully get into a book

[@ManCarryingThing]

i know the feeling

[@DarelictMcFizz-a-tron]

EXACTLY.

[@thomas9816]

Exactly! When I was little I used to read all the time, simple because I had nothing else to do. I now stopped reading because there's so much things I could be doing instead of reading, like whatching KZbin videos, anime, playing video games, etc

[@DirkMcThermot]

Movies I want to watch, podcasts I want to listen to, video games I want to play, music I want to listen to, tv shows I want to watch, board games I want to play, ....(a few more list items)..., reading books I want to read. So many things constantly trying to get me to ENGAGE and CONSUME!

[@uniquename6925]

you just gotta find the right books again. i replaced eight hours of KZbin in my life with eight hours of reading after getting into light novels

[@HelloFutureMe]

At my school, you had to read/analyse a specific book each year depending on the class you were sorted into, *but* in your later years you were technically allowed to read/write about whatever book you want if you asked for it. They just never told you that. You had to figure it out. In primary school though, they did have "reading time" where you were allowed to read whatever you want, but you had to read.

[@fishyfish1917]

man carrying worldbuilding

[@calebm.r.8367]

whatever happened to httyd content ?

[@ezert_13]

this is great

[@ezert_13]

this is great

[@ellahinton6600]

this just unlocked a core memory: in fifth grade our class AR competition sent me into a deep villain arc where i used my dad’s obsession with the kingkiller chronicles to pass both of the book’s tests without ever reading either. this gave me an insane number of points and demoralized the entire class also turning them against me for my obvious bs. soon after the teacher canceled the competition and we stopped using AR. i never admitted to cheating because i had a massive r/iamverysmart type ego problem but everyone knew i was lying.

[@Pipe42]

r/aftergifted awaits ...

[@arsenalfanatic0971]

that's the jeopardy/trivia studying approach lol. Never actually read or consume any well-known media, just learn about authors and their characters/plot-points. I like trivia a lot but I feel like I don't actually know anything

[@HandelsAreDumb]

Maybe getting AR decommissioned isn't such a bad thing after all

[@kaili_28]

oh i cheated so much on it i would use summaries

[@kaili_28]

i hated AR i used spark notes so much. i would read so many books but only take the minimum four books per quarter. and i was always bad at remembering the random details. i remembered the vague concept and general ideas. i would read a book then still fail the test. it made my teachers think i've terrible comprehension but them in discussions be able to articulate my ideas vry well.

[@stvksn]

I miss the old mancarryingthing who warned us about the harms of books

[@ManCarryingThing]

jk this was all satire. reading is bad go watch minions

[@hexcodeff6624]

@@ManCarryingThing Wasn't that movie highly controversial in 2020?

[@alex.g7317]

@@hexcodeff6624 all the cringe and blue pilled feminazis were ruining it because it had a black & pink female antagonist, saying “it’s demonising women”.

[@iheartlreoy8134]

@@hexcodeff6624 yes there was a lot of backlash for the cia blacksite pow torture scene

[@mikaela5938]

this is just like dune messiah

[@TheTrueRandomGamer]

I am literally never bored when you talk about books. Please make more of these.

[@sourcastic]

IKR. He really has a fresh perspective. Still funny too!

[@go_better]

+

[@youraveragetheatrenerd2330]

I remember back in elementary school, my favorite book series was “The Magic Treehouse”. Now, the next book in the series was a second or third grade reading level. I think I was in the fourth grade. And I was so afraid of getting in trouble just because I checked out a book below my reading level. I now realize how stupid it was that a kid should even have that fear. I just wanted to read my magic treehouse dang it!!

[@cecilie...]

I remember reading them in German as a kid, I loved them so much :) I'm already in my early twenties but I still love reading middle grade from time to time, I'm never too old for good books!

[@advokatie]

magic treehouse 🙏

[@jacobg8640]

They actually got rid of that series in my 4th grade class because all of us kept trying to read it.

[@youraveragetheatrenerd2330]

@@jacobg8640 bro wth ☹️

[@portugeese_man_o_war]

I loved the magic treehouse too!

[@Bentbire]

The top fond memories I have as a child are of my father reading LOTR to me and doing different voices for each character, bringing them to life for me in a way that nothing else has. He would even explain the connections to the Silmarillion and the Appendices, encouraging me to read them myself since he had a copy on hand. Or when I started reading Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, my dad picked them up alongside me and we would talk about the books together. My father’s love for fictional writing has been passed down to me and continues to be something that me and him can bond over.

[@halfadeaty]

How is your father? Is he still with us? Seems like a good dude.

[@Bentbire]

@@halfadeaty He is still with us, thankfully. Like all older men, he is a little eccentric (I walked in on him watching paper and ink reviews once).

[@halfadeaty]

May God bless your family@@Bentbire

[@Bowtiedhillbilly]

My father and I would read LOTR together when I was little (he would do most of the reading them) and we're very different people interest and politcs-wise, but that always brought us together. Books and stories in general can really bridge so many gaps.

[@supremezerker]

I got the most AR points in fifth grade, so I guess you could say I’m pretty epic at this reading thing 😎

[@ManCarryingThing]

sounds like a future business owner/president/scientist right there

[@GoErikTheRed]

I don’t recall if my school used the AR program, but points scaled based on the book’s difficulty relative to your grade level. When I was in second grade, had I been in third grade I would have been the second biggest reader. And some of the books I read weren’t even in the program. Now it’s taken me a month to get through 200 pages

[@tomisaacson2762]

Same. I couldn't read worth shit though. I either lied or skimmed just enough to answer the test questions.

[@supremezerker]

@@tomisaacson2762 you’re valid as hell for that move

[@tineye5100]

Your last point about just reading things is 100% accurate. It's why I hate it when people will dis something just because it's YA or comes off as YA-ish. Like... who cares? That's a marketing term anyway.

[@guitarscatsandmusic7733]

Are you a fan of the band magma? Or is you’re profile picture not their symbol

[@Y0UT0PIA]

Elitism is a good thing. Your time is too valuable to be reading bland, unoriginal genre fiction. Of course you should decide for yourself what qualifies as worth your time, though.

[@LevityRhodes]

@@guitarscatsandmusic7733 their profile pic is the symbol for Tin from Mistborn

[@Orynae]

@@Y0UT0PIA there's plenty of bland, unoriginal "literary" (non-genre) fiction, too. You just have to learn for yourself to judge a book by its summary. YA does have a bit of a volume problem, but _just because_ a specific, individual book is marketed towards young adults doesn't mean it always falls in the shallow/copycat category. I mean, lots of books are put in the YA category just because of the setting and/or the characters' ages, not because any specific story beats or tropes are followed.

[@jimjimmy8900]

@@Orynae the vast majority of YA is pretty terrible though

[@uglypinkeraser]

For me this resonated most with learning to play piano through traditional lessons. Practicing anything other than my lesson materials was "slacking off", "dilly-dallying" or "running the clock" and wasn't allowed. I played piano for 15 years growing up and basically haven't touched it since I left college because deep down in my brain playing piano is punishment and having fun doing so is wrong.

[@JonathanLeon]

I totally relate with this. Haven’t touch a piano in a while. But it does not mean that my love of playing music hasn’t faded. I play the bass guitar now.

[@nukecake4339]

My school had reading diaries that your parents had to fill out every day. They had to fill out how many pages you read, so you could be punished if the book you were reading had more words on a page. I pretty much skipped half of the pages in the Return of the King because I was worried I would get in trouble if I didn't say I had read enough pages.

[@Superbouncybubble]

I had a similar thing which sucked cause I have adhd. My parents were cool though and lied for me on the reading logs. My parents said it doesn't matter how slow I read as long as I was reading.

[@PredictableEnigma]

I hate this type of quantifying. At least ours was tracking time spent reading, not amount or speed. So if someone reads slower or faster it doesn't matter, as long as they put in the effort. However I remember we had to take timed math tests in 3rd grade. I always got good grades in math except for those timed tests. Because I am slow. I will get the right answers, but I feel like I can't do math without using my fingers to count times tables etc. and it was a big frustration for me and at the time it felt pointless.

[@Goryalight]

@@PredictableEnigma I have both, how much pages read and time spent. It was so awful, I lied every single time!

[@LunamrathP]

@@Superbouncybubble Your parents sound awesome dude.

[@qstionblomens6138]

Oh god, I remember doing this. I hated it so much I was halfway through college before I could read books without stress migraines

[@nathanielanderson6356]

I'm a middle school teacher and we still use AR. Nobody in the building thinks it's a good system, but it is still used. It is a reasonably big chunk of every student's grade for one class as well.

[@ManCarryingThing]

Would you say that the district likes using it, that they consider it important to keep?

[@nathanielanderson6356]

@@ManCarryingThing I think it is a system that they have claimed is beneficial for so long that they keep it around to save face with the parents. Building administration and staff, including the librarian all feel it is detrimental to the students. It seems like the issue is that there are a lack of good alternatives and the district is mandating that we have some sort of reading program implemented. It isn't used in reading or language arts classes though, just in a home room or study hall class.

[@msaa1125]

@@nathanielanderson6356 What? You have required reading in study hall? Isn't the whole point of study hall to let kids choose how they use it?

[@nathanielanderson6356]

@@msaa1125 You're exactly right. It doesn't make a lot of sense and frustrates teachers and students to no end.

[@samanthanorton4538]

Interesting. My kids' school does Daily 5 with "right fit" books in school and, optionally, the Pizza Hut Imagine It program for at home. It's not entirely self motivating, but they do read. And graphic novels count which are their favorites!

[@duncanclarke]

I think a lot of this is exacerbated by some circles of contemporary reading culture (particularly the self-help communities), who encourage people to do thinks like "read X books per year", and that you should be reading books as a form of personal development, rather than for the intrinsic enjoyment of it. Reading can definitely lead to becoming more worldly/knowledgeable/developed as a person, but that shouldn't be the *entire point*. People shouldn't read for the nebulous reward of "development" at the end, they should do it because it's fun in the moment.

[@ManCarryingThing]

agree completely

[@robokill387]

"productivity" culture has done a lot of damage, in my opinion. Since when did being "productive" become a virtue in itself, and why? It just makes me think of being machines, tirelessly working, making economic value for the benefit of our masters in order to earn the right to live.

[@khodges72]

I have brought a lot of non fiction books for this exact reason. I have finished none of them

[@Orynae]

@@robokill387 yeah I hate it. It's become so pervasive, like the idea of "filling sketchbooks" in art youtube. Yeah drawing more is good practice, and reading more _can_ be self-improvement, but it can also be a thing you do for fun, _as much or as little_ as you want to, without a measurable goal in mind!

[@RitualCat]

Oh Yeah! For example I just rediscovered fantasy novels and 🤯 it’s just so fun to read like it’s not a chore

[@sittingdowntown]

When I was in elementary, 3rd grade specifically, I took that test and got assigned an "8th grade reading level". Sounds great until I realized my school library only stocked 30 year old nonfiction books that couldn't have been farther from what I wanted to read when I was 9. We were discouraged (or straight up not allowed to, I can't remember) from reading books below our level so I ended up reading a lot of penguin classics I really didn't care about just for points. I'm almost 20 now and I haven't cracked a book open for my own enjoyment in years and I blame that entirely on school.

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

Read mistborn (not sure what book guys think of it but I enjoyed it a lot)

[@katie-allen]

We had a reading competition at my school based around AR tests. The person who read the most books would get $100 and the person who had the most points (the quizzes gave out points based on difficulty) won $50. In 7th grade, I won both first place prizes and I was over the moon having beat all 500 or so kids at my school. I had read nonstop up to that point and loved it. The next year I moved to a new school without any measurements of reading like that. I probably only read 15 books in 8th grade (a big downgrade from the hundred something the year before), maybe 5 in 9th grade, and I’m lucky if I’ve read one book a year since then. It makes me so sad. I used to love reading for fun, but then once it became competition and prize oriented, it kind of ruined my internal motivation. So the subsequent removal of the external motivation meant no motivation at all. I have one more semester now before I graduate college, and I don’t think I’ve read more than one book throughout these four years (none of these measures are counting school assigned books obviously). I really want to get back into reading, and it just kills me how hard it is for me now. I wish I could just jump in and love it like I used to. I’m trying to reread Harry Potter this summer. It’s true that I’ve definitely been feeling that guilt about not reading at a high enough level. I hope that I can get myself out of that mindset and just read for fun again like I used to. And hopefully graduating will help too. TLDR: AR destroyed my internal motivation to read and now I’m stupid lol

[@vojeremia]

i've learned that reading is like working out. if you don't do it for a while, you're not gonna have the energy to lift as much as you used to. but with time, you'll build all that up again. so don't beat yourself up, you'll get back in to it, friend.

[@SirGarthur]

Ayyyyy im stupid now too 😂❤👌

[@lemongeth]

I think you’ll find time for it after graduation! I graduated college a little over a year ago and was very suprised that I had more free time from working a 40 hour job than from school. I didn’t factor in how much time clubs and school jobs took.

[@Thunderwolf666]

Studies show that when rewards are used as extrinsic motivation, they erode intrinsic motivation to the point where if said rewards are removed there is zero motivation. Almost exactly as you describe. It's the same with being paid to do a job.

[@alecbader7433]

@@Thunderwolf666 Yep, it's a well-established psychological phenomenon. The problem is that school isn't designed to improve your quality of life, its designed to make workers. Your ability to quickly read and respond to work memos is more important than preserving your ability to enjoy things - so it isn't preserved.

[@OverlyAverageBen]

What have I just heard!? This is a thing? What an absolutely trash system. I fell out of love with reading for a long time due to the British education system where I had to choose a favourite author and then write something based in that genre/style. I chose George Orwell and then was failed for having dialogue in the beginning of my story when Orwell doesn't in 1984, not having my dystopia match his exactly by being about surveillance. Basically I was failed for having an inspiration rather than ripping something off lol.

[@ManCarryingThing]

Yeah, it's total trash - btw i thought it was weird when teachers would say it's wrong to start a story with dialogue. HELLO so many books start with a line of dialogue

[@thirdeyelandslide_]

yeah UK system is just as atrocious but for slightly different reasons

[@MushookieMan]

@@ManCarryingThing Rules of thumb to keep you under their thumb.

[@robokill387]

There was a case of an autistic boy in the UK being given an F in English class because the assignment was to write the first chapter of a novel and he flat out wrote an entire novel. Like, how is that bad? They shouldn't be punishing that.

[@Well_Meaning]

I remember this program. I minmaxxed my points by reading every Dr Seuss book and immediately taking the quizzes. I got commended at the end of the year for my huge amount of points, which I did not know would happen, but only felt crushing guilt-- because the girl in second place was reading legitimately!

[@jonnystoffel]

Don’t hate the playa, hate the game.

[@geroni211]

Honestly hilarious to see kids minmaxing systems like these

[@Wiki1184]

It cracks me up hearing a phrase like “minmaxxing” be related to school like it’s an RPG, but it completely fits.

[@Well_Meaning]

@@Wiki1184 I was clearly ahead of the game lmao My 7 year old brain was like: "if they're grading us by number of books + point value, I'll just read every book with the lowest valid difficulty rating, and be done with the entire year's worth of content in 3 days"-- and nobody stopped me. On the contrary they gave me an award 😭😭

[@peardude8979]

@@Well_Meaning The living embodiment of "work smarter, not harder".

[@its_monkey_time_baby]

The point that you made about how reading needs to be the reward, rather than a means to achieve a reward (or just avoid punishment), I think is especially true for us with learning disabilities. When I was in elementary school, I was undiagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. For me, the barrier to entry was already high enough, and the added stress that the AR system added to reading made it impossible. In many ways, the AR system was actively working against me, and flatlining any growth I could have made. As of right now, I could probably count on one hand how many books I've finished in my lifetime and I know that the way I was taught to read has so much to do with that. On a lighter note, I think that this video has inspired me to give reading another try. The comment you made at the end about reading for the sake of reading definitely makes that barrier to entry feel a little smaller. thank you

[@MrEgofreak]

Keep trying Arlo! I once asked for my psychology prof for advice on how to enjoy reading with dyslexia (a friend of mine's wife has it) and he said that with enough practice with the proper way to spell words, your brain with correct itself over time. (must be a pain in the ass, I know! I have cerebral palsy myself, so things can deteriorate for me as well without enough time and effort). The cure is, at least what I surmised, is more reading!

[@BEDBUGZAJ]

God, this video gave brought up so many (bad) memories. I was part of the AR program and, as described in the video, it was awful. What was most surprising is that, looking back, the AR mindset was engrained to our school’s culture. In elementary I was an advanced reader and was frequently reading large chapter books and other novels considered to be at ‘a high school level’. Being a kid obsessed with animals, I really wanted to read Animorphs and I tried to check it out from the library in 1st grade. When I handed it to the librarian she kinda gave me a sad look and said “Oh, I’m sorry but this is a 3rd grader book. You can read this yet.” Even then I was surprised and argued that I read more advanced books all the time. She finally shut down the conversation when she repeated herself and put the book behind her desk and told me to find another book that was “my level”. Just thinking about it makes me mad. Still haven’t read Animorphs

[@Momin_Azam]

“When reading is not looked at as a reward in of itself, we’ve lost.” Facts, my dude! In my school, they used to have us do reading logs, where we kept track of the hours that we read; absolutely hated it. They also did something similar with the reading comprehension test. Reading then wasn’t fun to me at all. But whenever I read on my own time (when I wanted to read), I loved it and enjoyed it! Edit: 205 likes?! Thank you, guys 😄!

[@GoErikTheRed]

I remember my fourth grade class had a system of “Caught Being Goods,” which were little slips that you got for doing a good thing. Helping someone clean up, etc. But you could also get them for each 15 minutes of reading in your log (which as far as I recall was the only motivation to read outside of school). At the end of the year we had a raffle using CBG’s as currency. I had a literal order of magnitude more CBG’s than some of my friends. Kinda weird that it just gives benefits to the kids who already liked reading, but maybe it was motivation for some kids

[@Momin_Azam]

@@GoErikTheRed true

[@speedwagon1824]

So true!! I first stopped being interested in reading because my school made me record how much I read, which was really tedious and I'd often forget.

[@Momin_Azam]

@@speedwagon1824 same, my dude!

[@definetlylucina1381]

Ooh yeah reading logs were why I learned how to forge my parents signatures The teachers wanted you to mark chapters like you read one every day, but since I would read books in one sitting I’d always forget until the class before it was due

[@JackSather]

The reason i stopped reading was the enforced reading log, where i had to read 30 minutes a day and get my parents signature. It's also where at age 8 I learned to start forging said signature, convincing my teacher I was crushing double fudge by judy blume.

[@ryanrichardson5844]

My dad tried to teach me to forge his signature but i was too much a goody two shoes to go along with it

[@gnomishviking3013]

I have to do this with my kids now. It’s so dumb and I know my kids hate it. Which is frustrating cause books are a huge love of mine.

[@vanancio]

I hated these logs

[@tomisaacson2762]

Me too! My 3rd grade teacher was convinced I was a stellar reader when I couldn't read worth shit. I could read small amounts for the sake of assignments but anything past a 5-10 minutes of reading was beyond me. My mind would wander too easily. Didn't correct the issue until undergrad.

[@zephlodwick1009]

That was me, too.

[@tomisaacson2762]

My school had us do reading logs where you had to get a parent's signature that you read something. Reading was already a chore to me given my bad attention span, but the logs certainly didn't help the situation. I didn't truly get into reading for leisure until my older brother started showing me books he liked and encouraging me to read them.

[@not-identified]

That's THE reason people dislike reading: forced reading at school. And it sucks because there's so much potential for reading activities/classes/clubs but they make them incredibly boring, and when something is an "obligation", nobody wants to do it. No matter what it is, it takes all the fun away. Thankfully,i have enjoyed reading since i was really young, and also as someone from Mexico, i wasn't forced to read in school or had something similar to AR, until i was 12, 13 and/or 14. And even then, we didn't read a lot/many books.

[@maaz322]

more like there's no incentive or free time to read for adults. If someone wants fictitious entertainment or dopamine bursts, they have a much more viable alternative in television. There's a reason why most novel readers are bored or lonely housewives and why the most bestselling genre is romance. We're forced into typing classes in school (type2learn), yet we're so keen on doing it long after primary education. People also want a motive to go through the effort and attain knowledge by concerted reading, and it has to be something less attainable through video format. That's why you'd find self-help books one of the few genres normal adults get into because the ease of access in paper format and the sense you're learning a real lesson like it's some educational textbook.

[@Overthinking_Media]

I'm severally dyslexic to the point I tried to spell "severally" about 5 different ways just now. Back in school we had something like the AR program where we had to read a book a week and write a review of it or we got detention. This is very hard for me but it was around that time I discovered Manga. In one afternoon I would go through an entire manga and I was super fascinated by it, but apparently Manga wasn't a real book and I wasn't allowed to write my reviews about it and got detention if I did... Despite the fact Manga taught me about a foreign country, their culture, their habits, their life style, their history, their beliefs, random trivia that may have been helpful, different types of art and fantastical worlds about super humans, master detectives, great adventures, scientific experiments. Things I was extremely fascinated and interested in and shaped where I am today in my life because I read them. But hey. Apparently those don't count as real books and instead real books were.... I don't even remember as they never left a lasting mark on me that mattered at all.

[@Overthinking_Media]

Oh, and for the record I can now read though an entire manga book in less than half an hour now and have once spent the entire day just rereading through assassination classroom Vol 1 to 21.... And I only cried for like 15 minutes!

[@ManCarryingThing]

sorry to hear that, this seems to be a common issue - let kids read what they want!

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

​@@Overthinking_Media I love to be the bearer of bad news. The word you actually wanted was "severely".

[@debrachambers1304]

*severely

[@RoweReviews]

Yeah I loved manga in elementary school, always gave me more enjoyment than novels cuz I'd read em on my down time.

[@oopsalldrip1376]

Ah yes, I loved getting punished for reading wrong or not being able to perfectly memorize trivial facts, then getting a near perfect score on the quiz for war and peace because I just decided to answer only c on that quiz.

[@FishyFLCL]

Had a similar experience, I'm currently learning Japanese , I have been reading manga for years now but was always afraid to pick up a proper book. So I asked the clerk at the bookstore for a book most Japanese read middle school and got recommended 人間失格 translated to "failure of a human" . While I say the book is interesting to read it's not fun to read. After telling my teacher what I was reading , my main Japanese teacher stressesed to me focus reading fun books instead of just famous classics. I grew up in new york state and never experienced accelerated reading but our English teachers always bitched about teaching to the system

[@0palheart]

I remember reading Homestuck as a kid (lol) and that shit is incredibly long and text heavy and i was learning new words left and right, and i connected with it more than anything in the school library. But I was sad because I knew a webcomic would never ever be considered "real reading" by the AR system. We had the "reward system", but whenever I didn't earn the reward for that month I would get really down on myself cause a bunch of my classmates got to go watch a movie and I didn't

[@OllieMossMusic]

I’ve actually been making an active effort to stay off my phone and read at least 2-3 chapters before bed and when I wake up and finding this channel was a big part of getting back into reading. That being said it is currently 12:30am and I’m on KZbin so maybe it didn’t work as well as I thought it did

[@bramtenhave8169]

In my country reading is killed by the enforced reading in middle and high school for which you can only choose some of the most boring books available for the age range.

[@luka3252]

I am Dutch, we had a similar thing to AR as well with books being rated for different levels of reading difficulty, I would however postulate that we had an even worse aspect; a thing called "begrijpend lezen". This is essentially something where you don't learn to read but you learn to find specific details in a text, like for example: figures of speech. This meant that we were trained from a young age not to actually read the books but find specific words in the texts so we could answer questions about them. This is a known issue, yet "begrijpend lezen" is loved by many Dutch teachers because they enjoy turning reading (an activity they already enjoy) into a puzzle. I would say it ruins reading pleasure and reading skills altogether. It lead to me hating Dutch literature as I can't read it anymore without using these techniques (I was a prolific reader in Dutch right up until I started getting "begrijpend lezen" lessons in hisghschool"). Happily though, my English reading hasn't been effected by this, and I can therefore still enjoy some reading.

[@georgiynikitenko7600]

Haha, i get you!

[@michaeledgar6459]

I have the same experience with foreign literature. I enjoy reading fiction in Spanish and French because I know it is also improving my language skills and feels more "productive" than reading fiction in English, my native language. I guess I subconsciously "learned" in school that reading can't be worthwhile unless some sort of information or skill is extracted from it.

[@greentaigo2552]

Yeah Dutch here and same. I'm glad that the fact school systems have ruined reading is finally being recognised because before this it was very easily disregarded as "Kids don't read much anymore, must be because of cellphones". I used to absolutely love reading as a child and the past 6 years my parents have asked me many times why I don't read as much anymore. Now that I'm in uni I'm finally getting back into reading. I'd also like to add that the book list you need to read for the exams made me constantly feel like I couldn't read anything else. Because if I was reading I may as well read those books right? But the Dutch classics honestly bored the shit out of me so I never did that either which resulted in me having to read like 5 books in 1 summer. Honestly I think that's my reason for probably never touching a Dutch fiction book ever again because anytime I read the Dutch writing style (not just Dutch but specifically the style of Dutch writers) it reminds me of reading 5 books in 2 weeks while simultaneously using the audiobook at 2.5 speed in the hopes of being able to comprehend it faster if I combined reading with listening.

[@deepfriedmilk258]

I feel like teachers teach with this technique for everything which is why I don't understand math

[@mooagain476]

One of the strongest memories I have from school was a teacher assigning a book aimed at a younger demographic and saying "you're never too old for a good book"

[@MapleMilk]

Ah yes, the ""fun"" system to encourage reading designed by cynical adults worn by bureaucracy What could go wrong?

[@janekskiba1201]

Polish person speaking: we never had such a system where I lived, though still, the system was very opressive. All tests after reading assigned books were testing us how well we know the contents - what are the characters' names, what places appear, etc. It's quite similiar to what you described. The difference is in the fact that everybody read the same thing. One problem with that is that you did not have ANY choice. None at all. There were a set number of books assigned, and you had to read all of them (like everyone in Poland). There was also a list of extra books that could be read, but it was up to the teacher exclusively, so no choice here either. Due to this, I stopped reading around middle school. I've finished my first year of university and am glad to say I've started reading books for myself again. I feel so much better now that I'm actually enjoying it

[@Sarubadooru]

That sounds just like Chile, only university doesn't change much the deal (I mean, you choose your program but you still have forced reading :/)

[@djcrotty5728]

I think you nailed it when you said how reading itself should be it's own reward. For my school, having to have read up to a certain chapter before next class made the idea that reading should be work, where the reward is leisure time, when we should be framing reading itself as leisure time

[@drewtmacha34]

I'll share one weird thing that happened to me (that isn't mentioned in this video). First, the not-weird part. When I got to high school, the English teachers got to choose what books we would read as a class every year. So each year, my teacher would pick out 6 books, and then we would spend a period of 6 weeks reading each book, taking comprehension tests on the book that usually included some historical/geographical/biographical/background info., doing several group discussions in class about the book themes, and then writing a ton of timed essays about the book themes. Now, the weird part. Since the teacher picked out the book, she hated it when a student criticized the book. Did you think all the characters were flat and the plot was boring? You'd better not say that in a discussion or write that in an essay! The "best" students were the ones that praised the book and feigned enlightenment after reading it. The teacher was looking for students who appreciated the books she appreciated. Moreover, a lot of people complain about this, but we had to write all our essays in the 5-paragraph format with extremely restrictive rules. (3 sentences per paragraph. Intro paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, conclusion paragraph. Intro paragraph must have an attention grabber sentence, a transition sentence, and a thesis statement. Each body paragraph had to have a claim statement, an evidence sentence, and restatement of the claim. The conclusion paragraph had to have the thesis statement repeated, a transition sentence, and a thought-provoker.) Don't deviate from the strict 15-sentence formula or points will be deducted! I suppose the ideal system would be like: Write clearly and concisely exactly what you thought about the book. Praise or critiques. 5 paragraph or 2 paragraph. 3 sentences per paragraph or 10. I would have enjoyed reading if I were allowed to express my thoughts about the reading in an appropriate way, rather than being told how I must express my thoughts (and which thoughts I should have) about the book.

[@shoyuramenoff]

I actually loved reading until the end of high school. Then university rolled around and I felt bad about reading something that wasn't a textbook. And I felt how you did doing those quizzes as a kid with exams. When I got into graphic novels/manga recently, it definitely made me feel a lot better about reading again.

[@aiocafea]

experiencing that right now it's not a feeling that i plucked from the æther, or advice from *the voices*, but it's legitimately something that peers have asked me 'how can you feel like you have time to read' 'if you read so often, why not pick up this programming and design patterns book?' 'oh wow you can easily turn this skill towards uni work' the remarks aren't meant to be taken badly, they are simply surprised or mean to help me, so maybe my own fears do put fake pressure on myself, but it still feels like the world of studying is trying to invade my leisure time

[@Tennisers]

i love comics but thats different from "proper" books, as prose can describe certain things deeper.

[@storiesfromsvijetko7284]

That was my problem too. Now I read again, but not as much as I used too.

[@zachc2280]

I didn't get AR reading until high school for some reason. You just unlocked horror stories in my head. It's definitely problematic for Elementary and Middle schoolers, but the system outright breaks in half in high school. Because even if you're at a higher level, it still discourages you from reading longer/higher point books. Sure, those have a ton of points, but the tests are way harder and you aren't guaranteed any points. So you might have just wasted nearly a full semester reading an epic, because you didn't take in every minute and obscure detail, and you still have to reach your quota. So it's easier to cheat the system by reading a bunch of middle grade or short books (or the lowest you can go) with far easier tests because those still give like 4-6 points almost guaranteed. It makes reading way less about reading and more about just beating the system.

[@SieMiezekatze]

I am sorry, I never heard of the AR program before..... in my school we never read any books, sure you could go to the library and/or read them in your free time but there were no grades involved

[@bipsmaster]

The systems I was exposed to weren’t rigid but they did incentivize reading with some reward. There was the Pizza Hut free personal pan pizza, and then there were the raffles you could enter at the library. I think what kept me reading wasn’t at all due to those incentive programs, but it was my mom taking my siblings and I to the library every week and telling us to pick out some books to take home. We wouldn’t always read them, but we were able to explore every aisle of the library. The joy of learning new and interesting topics was what really did it. Also, listening to stories at night before going to sleep.

[@hideshiseyes2804]

I wonder if funding public libraries properly would be a better strategy than some convoluted and restrictive system provided by a for profit company. I don’t really wonder that.

[@awfulroffle]

Oh same! Mine weren't as rigid as the ones mentioned in this video but I remember the pizza hut thing in... either third or fourth grade? I was one of those kids that had a higher reading level too; I was always reading books meant for fifth grade or higher and felt bad even *considering* reading anything "Below" my level. Because of that I ended up having to read from the public library instead of the school library which ultimately pushed me further and further into a subconscious mindset of "I can't read anything below my reading level" even in the YA section, so I just... stopped reading after awhile. Really sad, now that I think about it.

[@blumeshullman8002]

Honestly school didn't put me off reading, booktube did. In school, we were encouraged to be critical, to analyse what we read. And to read just whatever we liked outside of mandatory reads. In booktube, i have encountered a world of overwhelming positivity, and weird conflicts of interest, the concept of trendy books that you simply have to read or else you're not relevant (whereas in school when a book was mandatory at least you studied it so even if it didn't turn out to be an enjoyable read it was at least interesting). In booktube there is this constant flow of new books, more more more and combined with the overhype, it lead me to buy excessive amounts of brand new books instead of picking some things up at the library. And because i had bought them, and didn't want to have "wasted " that money, I had a harder time DNFing them and ended up reading a lot of really disappointing books. Which is why i have decided to take a step back. I also unfollowed booktubers who always seemed to give books 4 to 5 stars ratings because i realized i just couldn't trust them at all. I am now in the process of reducing my tbr and make it disappear, because it feels to much like a task to accomplish instead of a fun date. I'm gonna go back to the library to eradicate the financial pressure to enjoy books, the social pressure to be relevant, to be part of the discourse, and the weird power play of oneuping poeple at the goodreads challenge. Fuck that. Fuck all of that. ps: my school didn't have an advanced reader program, it's the first time I've heard of it and its sounds pretty stupid. I live and have spent all of my studies in france for context. pps: if i sound like a mean bitter bitch who is extremely picky, that's probably because that's exactly what i am. And so it should probably have been obvious from the start that i wasn't to thrive on booktube. But i am very glad to finally be aware of it, and to do the steps towards a reading experience that is more catered to me.

[@thousand1183]

When I was a kid, we were pretty poor, and because my dad taught at the school on the local naval base, I had access to a MASSIVE library. My dad promised me a dollar for every point I earned in AR. It really motivated me to get hundreds of points. I think that AR was something I really enjoyed, but I was a little dumb nerd who had to read to get things I wanted like Legos and such. It's nice to hear someone explain how detrimental AR is.

[@PredictableEnigma]

Yeah systems like this are motivational to SOMEONE or they wouldn't exist at all. It definately hits different people differently. I loved reading, but I definately was stubborn about only reading books I was interested in. Other kids in my class became pros at skimming books and taking the tests so would get through as many as possible. I would read books I wanted even if there was no AR test for them, but I would still take tests for any books I read that had them. These tests weren't tied to our grades though. They were bonus points that went towards earning a PJ party day at the end of the quarter or whatever. But I think it definately for some kids made reading feel like work. Like for some people that turn thier hobbies into jobs, they might enjoy that hobby less.

[@nikguimont8546]

Someone with a reading And learning disability I can say it feels comforting to see someone on the highest reading level also getting fucked by schools I always thought it was bullshit that I had such a high palette for so much other art ( for example my dad introduced me to experimental music at a young age )but they punish me for not being able to read well made me think I was gonna have more trouble in the real world than I do

[@shellygenevievee]

Dude...the guilt about not reading non-fiction is so real and made reading pretty agonizing for me through college. Thankfully, I didn’t have AR and my incentive to read through high school was always the stories themselves. I’m super thankful to my parents for taking me to the library and the Pizza Hut book clubs. I think when I got to college it was just too much for me to read for leisure because I was already reading as a chore like you mentioned. Feeling like I should read was clouded by a need to read for self-improvement rather than for enjoyment. Last week I had this very mysterious urge to re-read the Percy Jackson series - like I felt like I was going to implode if I didn’t. I renewed my library card and I haven’t read this consistently in YEARS. I hope everyone decides to read their favorite book from childhood because it’s so healing.

[@natvasch6399]

Also, I'd like to add that the concept of quizzes on a book is also contradictory to what reading means, especially for fiction. Like, you can know all the basic informations on or even details of a story and still not grasp what the message is/could be. What we feel and think while reading is so much more important than reciting "pure" information of the book like the circumstances of what's happening (although i'm not from the US and don't know if that's what the quizzes asked, but I'd imagine) (ps: loved the vid)

[@artez9175]

My elementary school didn't have this but they had a Gifted and Talented (GT) program. All the kids in it were white and somehow related to teachers. The students who weren't in it all agreed that it made the regular students feel dumb and untalented. I felt that way then too. Now (we're going to 9th grade), those kids are so normal and actually pretty boring.

[@artez9175]

Also, I'm not white I'm black. My mom and teachers agreed that I showed that I should be in the class but I just wasn't. I was a few grades ahead in reading comprehension and it felt like a big deal at the time. Now, I'm so fucking out of it. I'm not gifted anymore and every little thing makes me want to off myself. 😃

[@MrMctastics]

I hope you’ve learned to let go of those feelings

[@jazzpear8877]

I was in GT, it made me feel dumb because I had gotten in on creative and problem-solving skills, and the other kids got in on things like math and spelling. The activities we did relied more on math and science, so while I thought I was finally getting to have a group of kids I related to, I only felt more isolated.

[@MrMctastics]

@@jazzpear8877 Did you catch up?

[@kyoyameganebereznoff]

My school’s GT program was all the neurodivergent kids who presented in a way that made them seem gifted. And, while they did nurture our abilities to think outside the box, they also did nothing to address the fact that we were probably all ADHD or on the spectrum and the struggles that could come with that. I have since been diagnosed with ADHD (as an adult) and I get very frustrated thinking about all the help I missed out on over the years.

[@ABarra51]

This video hits home for me. My oldest is almost 4 and loves to have family reading time. Everyone says “that’s a great thing, I hope she stays that way.” Right now that behavior is encouraged both at home and school with lively stories, voices and accents for characters etc. It is sad to think that the wrong system or teachers in school can turn something so special into a box to check off.

[@Robert-kd9ir]

If anyone is interested about how many of the reward based systems used in public schools today actually hurt children long term, I would recommend the book Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn

[@kaitlyng7850]

"I can't read that because it's not in my level so I'm not going to waste my time reading it" I FEEL THIS SO MUCH AND IT'S THE REASON I NEVER READ THE THIRD PERCY JACKSON BOOK!! I remember I was a few pages into "The Titan's Curse" (Percy Jackson 3) and I realized it wasn't in my level so there was no way I was going to waste my time reading it because I couldn't take a test on it. It was "too low a level" which is so detrimental to children. Just because we want to read a book that's "too low" a level doesn't mean we shouldn't be allowed to test on it or anything. It's just so dumb.

[@reaper2r]

I used to read as a kid and a teenager, but didn’t read much in my twenties. I tried First Law when I was 30, and now I have read like 100 books in the last couple years since then, seriously it launched me back into it. Hard recommend

[@derpydayha7305]

5:51 This is basically how I feel about education in general. I've been fortunate to be good at school (I get good grades) but I've discovered that traditional classes tend to kill my enjoyment of things I otherwise love. School teaches us that learning means doing what someone tells you and absorbing the information they provide for you, but I tend to enjoy things much more when I seek out the information myself, and when I can learn at my own pace. Which is why I'm taking a year away from uni and learning to code on my own. I managed to learn Japanese on my own, so hopefully this works out too.

[@sitbunnynow]

I was homeschooled and always loved reading. Now I’m finishing a doctorate in philosophy. This video made me really glad I didn’t have to deal with this sort of thing.

[@amypauley2551]

Thank you! I grew up in Canada. But yeah, they divided us kids up into reading levels and told us what to read. Doesn't matter what program or level you're at. People telling me I couldn't read what I wanted to wasn't fun! I want some wonder and joy when I read!

[@qoekeur]

I surveyed my classmates (im in shitty highschool) about their reading habits and what prevented them from reading for my psychology class. Although I initially thought that it was likely the school system which was preventing students from reading I actually found that most of them literally just said they didnt have the attention span. Pretty sure its cus there are like 1 million other shorter forms of entertainment easily accessible to everyone and therefore the idea of reading books is not attractive

[@ManCarryingThing]

it probably contributes to it

[@MattMcIrvin]

When I was a kid, I certainly watched a lot of TV, probably way more broadcast TV than I do now, but since there was no home video market, no Internet streaming, etc., you could only watch your favorite shows when they were on, and your favorite movies when they were in the theater or became the TV movie of the week. A lot of the novelizations and tie-in books that were out there were basically designed to address that--they were ways of engaging with your favorite shows and movies when you couldn't actually see them. Literary folk looked down on this class of print media, but they did provide an incentive for kids to read something. Now you can basically watch anything you want over and over.

[@tomisaacson2762]

Yeah, I know that's a huge contributor to my lack of reading. I'll start reading and like 5 minutes in I'll feel the urge to check my phone. The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr is an interesting book about this phenomenon. I listened to the audiobook 😎

[@Severian1]

Reward/Punishment system of reading is the potential book lover's hell. I am glad I continued reading despite the awful experience of memorization and regurgitation of texts else I'd be a very, very different person now.

[@Protologos]

Struggling with Dyslexia and keeping up with my assigned reading was quite difficult and already made me generally unhappy while reading and then being tasked with "pleasure reading" (read "anything" you want and report each week) made me excited until my teachers realized I was reading comicbooks and manga which did not qualify. I think that really destroyed the habit I was developing. While sure I wasnt challenging myself to read literature I think starting a reading habit with comicbooks/manga/graphic novels really works for a lot of people. It has made it very hard for me to re-establish a reading habit as an adult because most of my associated memories with the actual act of reading are exhaustion/stress and academic obligation. I've gone on to do lots of graduate research and I interact with a lot of academic literature regularly. But in my personal life I listen to audiobooks (which I'm not saying is somehow cheaper than reading a story, it's great) but reading, sitting down to physically read is a really difficult and overwhelming thing to do with too many neurological associations and bagage to be enjoyable. I'm still trying, but it will take a very long time to undo all that bullshit it really disappoints me.

[@johnnyvalverde7987]

I was a little luckier when it came to AR. We had it in my elementary school but the teachers would personally quiz you on any books you read that weren't in the system. It still had other issues but at least we could read what we wanted and get credit for it. It's a shame that most schools probably don't have teachers that care enough to work around the AR system.

[@g-rated3514]

I use to read a lot of books as a kid until our school adopted AR. Then reading became a competition to beat the system. All Zoo Books were 1pt and easy to speed through. They were also not as fun to read as Hatchet, but still managed to chop my love for reading to bits

[@oldveryveryoldmanfromthe1900s]

I like your wordplay

[@willehster9467]

followed this typical trajectory. constantly read as a kid. to the point where i would get grounded, my mom would take away computer, tv, video games, hanging out with friends, and i just wouldn’t care i’d just read more. by the time i had graduated high school i probably stopped reading books on my own entirely. audiobooks as an adult has been a game changer. i can listen at work, in the car, while folding laundry, vacuuming etc etc

[@natvasch6399]

I looked in the discription out of curiosity and then couldn't click away from the hours and hours of free entertainment, it was just so mesmerizing. Don't make my mistake.

[@fishyfish1917]

If you stare into the golf hole, the abyss stares back at you

[@RozWBrazel]

I’ve embraced hedonism as an adult and re-teaching myself to be able to enjoy things just for the sake of them and not hoping I get some sort of reward farther down the line has made me significantly less miserable. I’ve been wanting to read certain Expressionist and Decadent classics and I’m sad to admit reading is the pleasure that is returning the slowest after decades of school draining any joy out of it for me. But I’m getting there.

[@StephanieJeanne]

Wow. I didn't have that system as a kid "in my day." Lol. Sorry for those of you who did or had something similar. It's true that as adults we're sort of expected to read important works. I kept a lot of children's books for years because they were more fun to read. However, there are adult fiction books too, that I have enjoyed. Trying to make time for it again. Thanks for the reminder. Great video!

[@ManCarryingThing]

thanks!

[@Zivilin]

Yeah. I didn't have that system either as a kid in the 80's/90's. I read the three musketeers and From the Earth to the Moon from the school library during lunch breaks.

[@S0YB0Yo]

School made me hate reading but watching your videos got me to read the dune books and I just want to thank you for that :)

[@ManCarryingThing]

that's awesome :)

[@neoshenlong]

I'm a middle and high school literature teacher, just beginning. I'd like to know your take on how you think we can incentivize a nice reading habit without turning it into a chore like you say. I know one of the things that helped me study this in the first place was the teacher I had in my last school year, he gave us a huge list of optional books to read and one specific one we had to read every term. The tests were actually discussions, most of the class were discussions (which, I found out a year later, is exactly how literature lessons happen in college). I think discussing and interpreting and relating literature to personal experiences and feelings is a great way to become attracted to reading again... but i'm still struggling with that working with kids that are already damaged by that system and just see books as information gathering for a grade. Any suggestions?

[@ottoweininger8156]

I always thought that allowing the student more choice in what they read was important. But, equally important, is to help them make such choices. Most children don't actually know a wide range of books, recommendations help. Most of the books I loved as a teenager were recommended to me by my dad but not everyone has someone to do similar for them. You would need to tailor these recommendations to the student though (which, I understand, might not be easy). A second idea is, once they've built up a repertoire of books they've read, give them the task of comparing some. Similar themes, complexity of language, what is better or worse in what way? But don't force the books they compare on them.

[@rainbowsunset329]

I have a brother who hated reading, but around high school he picked up dog man, he loved it (mainly because it had pictures) it is a easy book to read basically a comic in other words variety is key I'd suggest not making kids think that reading a book that a 8 year old could read would make them less intelligent or some BS meanwhile I liked older books like black beauty & getting of wisdom but I sometimes had trouble getting "older books" in the school library so I also suggest having books from different eras I also liked books about animals especially as a kid it didn't matter about what animal, fiction, non-fiction even dinosaurs so seeing interests they already have could help them pick books they like

[@azzgunther]

There may not be much that you can do for kids who've already been conditioned to conceive of reading as a trickle of incessant pain and frustration, but the method that your teacher used is about as well as you could do; he kept it recreational! Because IF reading is not done for personal enjoyment, which is to say: if it must be done as part of a school curriculum, then your best method is to create an environment where _at least some_ of the students are enjoying the activity. They shouldn't be pressured, because without pressure they are then free to engage with the activity as it should be engaged with: consensually. Unfortunately, to do it properly would probably "leave some children behind" since the students would naturally segregate themselves into the enthusiasts who want to discuss and the rest who don't. And if you try to force the issue, then you immediately drag the entire concept of reading _right back_ into an assignment and a chore. If you can somehow create a vibe where the students can read what they want to read, at the pace they want to read it, and wont' be punished or rewarded...then you'll be a great teacher. Because, in the big picture, reading should not be part of the curriculum. It is a thing that many people naturally do, but fewer do because of their poor interactions with it in class.

[@mickb.8925]

The best literature teacher I had would give us basically full control over what books we would read. We had to read 3 books in a school year and they had to meet certain criteria like page count age group. He did give us a list of books but we were not required to read from said list. After we had read the book, we had a chat with our teacher about the book. First we had to give a synopsis of the book, then give our opinion on the book and why we had that opinion. After that he asked questions based on what we told and based on the cover/blurb on the book. It just felt like I read a book for fun and afterward was able to chat with someone about what I just read, instead of being tested.

[@ZoopsMind]

I'm the product of a different educational system, so this may be apples and oranges, but there may be something worthwhile in my blather. In primary school, I read constantly. We had a cosy little library and bookshelves on wheels in every classroom, and teachers just added books they thought we might like, hence there was stuff like Artemis Fowl and less Blood Meridian. I think the key was never forcing reading anything specific on us; just have a variety of books available and make it seem normal. When we got to secondary school, it stopped being fun. Despite having a huge and well-equipped library, I no longer found reading relaxing because now stuff was being foisted upon us. Had I had the chance to pick the Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights or All Quiet on the Western Front out of a shelf like the olden days, I might have loved them (I later rediscovered the last book and enjoyed it). Instead, because we had to go through it in class, on the spot, dissecting why that apathetic moo Daisy isn't interested in that hopeless clot Gatsby any more, it stopped being fun and started being rote and mechanical. Now I violently retch whenever I hear "Heathcliff". The UK system thinks that your education isn't complete unless you've read and dissected a selection of 'important' books, even if you don't recall a damn thing about them barely three months hence. So freedom to choose what to read is important, but I think gentle direction towards things a pupil might like is equally necessary - most people don't know what they want until they have it. If we're going to analyse literature, let it be a discussion among peers, with open questions rather than leading ones. Less about the use of synecdoche and caesura in this, that and the other - more about "what is this book discussing? What does it ask? Does it have any answers of its own? What does it make you think about?" Ee, that was long. I'd best piss off.

[@bluejaesplus]

As someone who won the AR competitions all the time, I was praised for how much i was reading but like many here said- I minmaxxed the hell out of it! I read all the harry potter books, so i tested, but then I took tests on book about Harry Potter I had never read. Summaries, little goldens, biographys on JKR, anything related to HP I already knew so i tested. Then i literally took tests on every book they had ever read to me pre 4th grade. I was an advanced reader already, but the incentive to prove it made me anxious I’d be left behind and no one would care about me anymore. No matter how fun it may have felt winning, my reading plumetted pretty much every year after that to the point that I now read maybe 2 books a year and have no motivation to brach out to new content. It’s nor important how you swing it, AR sucks

[@luvmeday]

omg i also just tested all the harry potter books and books i'd already read but to get the bare minimum required points lol

[@JPKloess]

I was homeschooled so the books I read as a kid where "what my mom thought looked good that the library had" or what looked cool to me. Never heard of this system.

[@axelc9262]

Wow I hadn’t thought about or even remembered AR tests for probably like 10 years and now I’m just remembering not being allowed to read books I wanted to and failing the tests on the books I chose because I didn’t want to read them…

[@GoErikTheRed]

We had either accelerated reading or a similar system in the elementary school I went to through third grade, but it was completely optional. “If you want, you can check to see if the books you read are in the system, and we’ll give awards to whoever got the most points.” I don’t remember any teachers ever pushing me to participate in the system, and I know I read books that weren’t included. But I was also reading a Hardy Boys book every week, which were like 2 grade levels above me (points scaled based on how the book was rated relative to your grade), so I still ended up with the most points in my grade

[@Thetopnoobpro]

My school did AR reading and I remember doing the quizzes and such but you would always have like a score for your reading level based off what you read if I’m not mistaken. I have some fond memories but I also remember it being tedious because I wanted to enjoy a book but felt obligated to have it be my exam. (Cause u good choose to take a quiz for ur book at my school)

[@ryanscott6578]

As a big fan of Avatar the Last Airbender I got back into reading when the Kyoshi novels came out. If you're into that, I'd also recommend Jade City and its sequels in the Green Bone Saga- an Asian urban crime fantasy series by Fonda Lee

[@teunis3595]

The third book of that series, The Dawn of Yangchen, releases this week. Only found out about that recently. Hope I get it tomorrow, loved the Kyoshi novels.

[@kyoyameganebereznoff]

I fell back in love with reading when I finally gave myself permission to read almost exclusively middle grade fiction. I just find it to be the perfect sweet spot: complicated enough sentence structure to be interesting, but still easy enough to make me feel like I’m actually making progress and enjoy myself.

[@cedoniapeterson9239]

100% agree. People look at me weird when I say it, but MG really is a great sweet spot.

[@evilfuzzybunny100]

I'm glad that my parents taught me to read long before I went into school, I think that definitely helped me understand more about reading for fun rather than burning out trying to mash it all into my head

[@Tv-Nauta]

Hope to see more video essays soon this one was really well done c:

[@farbaby7624]

in elementary school we had a set of roughly 20 books which we had to read and do reports on by the end of the year. we just got the list at the beginning of summer, there was zero class time devoted to it. in the last few years, we'd do them over the summer bc our other homework during the year was so time consuming. this meant I went from reading for pleasure constantly to not at all, bc any school breaks were devoted to that stupid list and any time during school I was swamped with other reading/homework assignments. it also meant books I might have enjoyed on that list were ruined for me forever bc of the resentment I felt towards them for taking away my summer.

[@ChristopherRoss.]

Wow, AR seems like hell. Would have turned me off of reading from moment 1. I live in Canada, and our school district had a simple "enforced" reading approach. You pick any book you want, and once you were done you have a 5 min oral book report to the teacher at her/his desk. You had to be able to give a basic recounting of the setting, plot, characters, and themes of the book (appropriate to your grade level). In gr. 7/8 You keep track of the books you read and when you read them, and so long as you read 400 pages a month, you were good (grading was pass/fail). I was usually in the multi thousands range. High school had no "enforced" reading, just books that were discussed/studied in class. Their choices sucked, but it was usually a Shakespeare play or a sub 200pg classic you had 2.5 months to read, so it wasn't too bad.

[@SoundFuryBookReviews]

Also in Canada and my reading in school was similar. I do remember the odd book report in grades 6-8 though. In grades 11 and 12 we had a mix of assigned books (including Shakespeare each year) and self-selected (there were some stipulations like one of them had to be Canadian, and we couldn't choose graphic novels). I remember almost everyone picked the Alchemist for their grade 12 project because it was so short (me, being a keener, chose Franzen's The Corrections lol).

[@royce6485]

I honestly didn’t know if this channel was ever actually about books. I only started watching when it memed on book lovers. This was a pleasant surprise. I totally agree!!

[@larsfrommars]

hoo boy this brought back memories. i'm a lot younger i'm suprised the us has used renaissance for that long. i don't remember it being unbearable personally, mainly because i was a really fast reader. still don't read that much now tho

[@Manuel-gk3rv]

I have a somewhat similar system in my country that absolutely ruined my joy of reading. I used to devour every book I could get my hands on, but stopped reading basically at all in secondary school because of how our system works. Only recently have I started to slowly become an average book reader once again, which is because a friend of mine basically told me what you said in this video 'Just read whatever you want. You shouldnt feel guilty about trying to enjoy something.'

[@user-sv5kt8qz3v]

U OWN A COUNTRY????

[@Manuel-gk3rv]

@@user-sv5kt8qz3v you don't?

[@user-zk2uc1qm5r]

Dutch?

[@user-sv5kt8qz3v]

EVERYONE LIKE THIS COMMENT BY MENUEL RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

[@Manuel-gk3rv]

@@user-zk2uc1qm5r hoe wist je dat nou weer lol

[@ariavachier-lagravech.6910]

I used to love reading, then shorter attentions span from internet kicks in and I hate how I couldn't touch books anymore.

[@clapostrophy]

Hey, touching books is actually pretty easy. Especially with a low attention span… visit a library and you are presented with an abundance of books to touch in rapid succession. Practically endless entertainment.

[@jeremyusreevu237]

Well said, Man Carrying Thing. I've loved reading ever since I was little, and it's baffling that we treated reading as a chore.

[@aaronbuckles5622]

I remember I felt so bad after getting 50 points from “reading” twilight. I just watched the movie instead 😂

[@BrandonsWritingRoom]

I always love when you talk books. Also, this was my experience in school as well, both as a student and in my brief time as a teacher. AR was torturous because it seemed only one in five of the books I read were actually in the system. Then as a teacher, I was basically told to encourage students to read books that were "appropriate" for their lexile rather than just reading what they liked. The higher end of the lexile system heavily favors nonfiction, of course, so even though the strongest readers in my classes preferred fiction, our system was telling them they should be reading the "real literature." There's a reason many students (in my anecdotal experience) tended to dislike English/Language Arts classes, and it's because we were made to read stuff we didn't care about AND weren't really given a good explanation as to why we should care.

[@Xboxkokoko]

The books in class were always super boring, so that made me drop in grades because I just kept on not connecting with the book to the point that in Junior year I was put into the "given up" class where the only book we read the entire year was The Catcher in the Rye. Now, I was a 16 year old white boy with emotions, I loved Catcher in the Rye, but we were also supposed to read books like The Scarlet Letter and Macbeth! While all of my friends who could stomach the shit we had to read long enough to get a passing grade got the best year for books in English, something that could have been super useful to me specifically, I was instead watching the movie versions of the books, talking about the teacher's work within the black community, and skipping Macbeth because apparently only I like it when scottish people go around murdering each other. I swear that was the one class I hated the most in High school, and made me give up on school in general, at least in regards to me going to it. I liked Animorphs, could I get more Animorphs books in schools please? I always had only like 4 available in the Library at the time and they were always #4, #23, #12, and the last book in the series so then you could spoil yourself if you wanted

[@papamojo2904]

Books were my escape as a lonely kid. I loved them so much I wanted to become a fantasy writer. So when it became time for college or university I decided to do something that I would be able to do to get some sort of degree to make me more hireable that still let me write stuff. Here in Ottawa Carleton university has an English degree with a concentration in creative writing. Basically an honours program. So I thought “oh that’s perfect. I’m good at English so I can pass those classes easily and have fun with the writing.” Then it turns out only 4 out of the forty classes I had to take to get my degree were about creative writing. Those were awesome but I was put through the wringer constantly reading and writing about crap I didn’t care about. I slogged through it because of inertia and because I honestly didn’t know what to do I was in the school system for so long and never had a chance to choose my path I didn’t think to leave one that I hated. I still want to become a writer but I’m so burned out on reading and writing even writing emails makes me anxious. I’m fucking pissed, at Carleton because where the fuck do they get off putting “creative writing” in the degree name if it’s only 10% of 4-5 years of uni classes, and at myself for pushing through until my passion became painful.

[@bigmasterziggy9460]

In my school we had this “readers diary”. Every 3 months we had to have 3 books of our own choice read. For example I have read Harry Potter 1-3 and then I wrote this summary about them to the readers diary. All of this in the comfort of my home. Then I had to brought the diary to the teacher. Everyone could choose their books individually. Sorry for terrible english

[@yoav.kats6328]

reading the wiki page on golf took less time then you promised but it surely was fun

[@felipevaldes3487]

I used to read a lot, yes. Since I was a toddler, my mother got me into the wonderful world of books. I don't read books as much as I used to due to the fact I'm not finding anything interesting. Like, I don't know. I mean ofc I read things like the Bible or some random stories I find online from time to time. Rather than that... I just don't know lol. I may be at the lowest point of life

[@marshyc]

Amen to all of this. I had a massive love for the Redwall books as a kid and would read them constantly. When it came to AR though, they wouldn’t let me use them on the tests since they had too many “mature themes” (it was literally about mice and rats fighting with swords). That forced me to put away the books I loved and grind through easy point-earners for no reason at all. Thankfully once AR ended I was free and started the series up again, but just like you said, I still have a bit of that guilt about doing what I enjoy. Great video, I love being in the Forbidden Zone.

[@Thetopnoobpro]

Glad to see you talk about this cause I haven’t seen anyone do so. I was in a school that used AR but I can’t remember a lot because I was young but I totally agree with what your saying. The reward is reading the book, read what u want. Thank you for this :)

[@TerrificRallyMaestro]

I was fortunate enough to attend a small private school that allowed me to read whatever I felt like reading and writing about so long as the teacher approved. I was then doubly fortunate to attend a public high school that did the same thing! What is this hellish AR program that you and many others have and are experiencing? Who is responsible for this? On a similar level, it reminds me of how critically all schooling seems to fail at teaching kids about math beyond formulas and history beyond timelines.

[@gretatalks9045]

As a kid I used to read fantasy books with 500/600 pages like it was nothing and when I got to high school I stopped kind of cause I just didn't like it anymore. It took me some years to realise that my taste in books had simply changed. So now I've found immense joy in exploring different genres and rediscovering reading just for the fun of it.

[@JulEnglefaris]

awesome, what books have you really liked lately?

[@gretatalks9045]

@@JulEnglefaris I really enjoyed Circe, The seven husbands of evelyn hugo and the spanish love deception. I know they're pretty popular on booktok but they did get me out of my reading slump

[@AnaWallaceJohnson]

Thank you so much for the hours of entertainment link!!! Having so much fun! 😀

[@gwen3822]

Very good timing!! I've been contemplating buying more books and reading more :) thanks a lot

[@vikinginger1889]

This was my experience with college and the required reading I had to do. I hated reading for awhile. I love it again, reading wot, avatar, halo

[@evstank]

I hated that some of my classes mandated books no one wanted to read. Sorry Ms. Hammond I don’t want to read your shitty Leif Enger book that you really liked from your book club. I wanted to read Tolkien!! The most productive reading was when teachers allowed kids to read whatever the hell they wanted as long as it was reasonably difficult and then read together the same book in the class room. Gatsby and Othello were awesome to read together

[@Thisismyletter]

The ending of this video is poetry. Thank you for this!