Death to the Classics

When my brother and sister have a book report it is hard-pressing to actually get them to read the book before doing the report. At Brad's age (16) I had read all the Sweet Valley High books, along with hundreds of pages on WWII and the holocaust. I read every book ever assigned to me in high school (not counting text books) except the ones I found morally offensive. Those were replaced by something else.

Today, my friend (and much grander master-reader than I) sent me this article.

As a result, many 19th-century texts, such as Dickens' "Great Expectations," are disappearing completely from classrooms, deemed "too long, too hard" for attention-deficient teenagers of the 21st century. "Teachers are giving up," Jago says.
-Melissa Slager

The article says that teachers have gotten so desperate for their kids to read, that they are allowing them to read that has anything with a front, cover and inside pages. Not caring whether or not the book is considered a classic or is just pathetic writing in general. I say, that's a good start - but they need more.

Reading breeds better readers (imagine that). So for anyone who gives me the excuse that they are poor readers - it is frustrating. Because the only way they will ever remedy that, is by actually reading.