buggers and farts
January 31, 2007 at 11:50 pm | In Uncategorized | 3 CommentsThere has historically been a disconnect between what students want to read and what they are asked to read in school. School Boards, parents, and community groups have banned books that they considered offensive or indecent, and many English teachers have relegated their classroom libraries to consist of canonical pieces that students can’t relate to, or even understand in many cases. And yet, these books that have been banned, or considered “junk books” by some, are exactly what kids- especially boys, who lose interest in reading to a greater extent that girls do- want to read. In her article “To get boys to read, yuk works wonders”, Gina Damron examines what schools can do to encourage interest in reading.
For the kids that struggle with reading, the ones that see “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” and give up after page one, “ ’They’re the ones falling through the cracks,’ [Jo Kwasni] said. ‘There’s no bad literature for these kids.’”
I believe that schools should do like libraries have begun to across the nation: they should start to bring in all kinds of texts, from graphic novels to books like “The Adventures of Captain Underpants” to ensure that the kids who are behind in literature, the ones who are first to stop wanting to read because it’s too hard, get the opportunity to learn the joys of reading while gaining skills they can use later when they decide to move on to different literature styles.
When it comes to reading, even if we can’t all agree that all reading is great, it is certain that any reading is better than no reading at all. If boys need their books to be full of gore, violence, and blood, or stupid toilet humor and gross depictions of vile things like poop and snot, then that reading should be the kind of reading they’re allowed to do in the years when they make up their minds about whether or not they can get anything out of reading.
We can always hope that boys will grow out of being fascinated by the grotesque and the obscene, but by forcing them to read things they don’t like, we are not going to get them to be any less interested in gore or obscenity. If books filled with poo and masturbation are what they want to read, then let them read. Keeping kids reading is the best way to make them better readers, and if they don’t read about something unpleasent in a book, they’ll find in on TV or on the internet. Let’s face it, when it comes to grabbing kids’ attention with a book, there’s no such thing as bad reading.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070125/NEWS05/701250387/1007
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I definitely agree that it is important for teachers to keep the students interest with literature that grabs the attention of the students, but I think for an adolescent, there needs to be some boundaries as well. I’m not positive if you’re speaking about younger males, but for older males, it is important for the teacher to not only engage the attention of the reader with certain books, but also exercise the students mind and help them process and use critical thinking. Male readers are going to need to mature into novels and I think that is a major issue when you discuss the loss of male readers versus female readers. Since females mature at an earlier age, they are able to comprehend the complexities of more novels than the male’s immature mind can handle. Does this mean a gender split for reading assignments? Not necessarily. Teachers need to choose assigned literature wisely in order to avoid isolating either gender. They need to slowly work the male reader into reading more complex novels without forcing complicated books on males early on. With female readers, the teacher needs to help them sort out their new mature minds by providing literature that stimulates them mentally. Although males and females may have different tastes when reading, it is the teacher’s job to choose novels that interest both genders.
Comment by matt4386 — February 1, 2007 #
[...] Buggers and Farts [...]
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One article I read, suggested that school libraries have shelves strictly to attract boys featuring books like The Outsiders, Aragon, and new graphic novels. The books would have a more “masculine” theme and encourage boys to break that social stereotype that boys do not read. I don’t know if boys could always read “boy” books, but maybe a system like the literature circle could be implemented where students can group together according to the texts, genres, and themes they enjoy reading. Not everyone would be reading the exact same book all the time, but I think the lessons would still be beneficial. The teacher could ask students to write quick-writes and find gender stereotypes within their text and compare it to the characters of other texts and other literature circles.
I agree. Reading books about blood and buggers is better than not reading. Maybe eventually the boys will develop an open mind to literature and continue to read outside the classroom.
Comment by trishcabobb — April 18, 2007 #