Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Brazil prisoners reading books to shorten their sentences (2020)

prison-off.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 87 posts

Re: Brazil prisoners reading books to shorten their sentences (2020)

#51

Post by planet-and-halo »

SlowAndCalm wrote: post #45
adflux wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A smart friend of mine proudly stated how little he read in high school, and that he has not read a single book since. He is 26.

I read a lot of novels in school and not many after. Reading is a vital skill but reading novels is not; a separation that was never conveyed to me to in school. For every great novel I have read, I've read countless more terrible novels and there is no greater waste of time than reading something terrible. Not reading artfully constructed prose has definitely taken a toll on my own writing though, as evidenced by th…

The emphasis on literature is definitely part of the problem. I was lucky enough to take an AP English Language class my senior year of high school, where the focus was on short essays and other nonfiction. That's what really ignited my love of reading. Before that I did enjoy my sci-fi novels, but I was much more of a TV/movies/video games person.

Re: Brazil prisoners reading books to shorten their sentences (2020)

#52

Post by gbrown »

planet-and-halo wrote: post #16
janmo wrote: post #5

At school we had a teacher who tried to make us read 10 books a year. You could choose whatever book you wanted, and you had to write a small summary. So every one headed to the school library and looked for the smallest books available. The most popular book that every one read was called something like: "Collection of letters from from my Grandfather" and had around 50 to 70 pages and was very boring. Many also che…

This exact phenomenon is discussed in "Punished by Rewards." It's probably one of the best possible ways to train kids that reading is no fun, of no benefit to them, and should only be done if promised some kind of prize.

In elementary school we had something like this - we had to read a book from a different genre every month in order to earn a food item for the end of year picnic. I was constantly reading just science fiction, and ended up with only pickle relish, despite reading more than most of the other students. I don’t think the exercise convinced anyone who wasn’t already into it that reading is good and fun.

Re: Brazil prisoners reading books to shorten their sentences (2020)

#53

Post by emersonrsantos »

forinti wrote: post #8

Short tangencial bit of history: A Brazilian called Paulo Freire came up with a method which consists of coming up with a short list of words related to the pupils' day-to-day. These words have to cover all the phonemes in Portuguese and the pupils would discuss them. He managed to teach adults to read very quickly. But, as talking about your reality was integral to the method, he got into trouble with the then milit…

Paulo Freire plagiarized the Laubach method, created by the protestant missionary Frank Charles Laubach. The method was copied by marxists ideologists in Brazil's Pernambuco, emphasizing the class struggle. The author of these other primers was Paulo Freire, who lent his name to the "new methodology" as if it were his own.

Re: Brazil prisoners reading books to shorten their sentences (2020)

#54

Post by jack_riminton »

erikig wrote: post #26
jack_riminton wrote: post #17

I expect it'll create an illicit trade of essay plans and verbal story tellers

If there were ever a least neferious illicit prison trade, this would be it.

Exactly. Might even spawn some good debates

Re: Brazil prisoners reading books to shorten their sentences (2020)

#55

Post by lbebber »

beardyw wrote: post #44
someperson wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> analphabetism I've never heard that word before. It's a synonym for illiteracy.

Me too - which is ironic in this discussion. Not sure I am too convinced by it, it seems to derive from unfamiliarity with the alphabet. In small children at least familiarity with the alphabet is not the same as being able to read.

The word “literacy” also derives from familiarity with letters, but from latin instead of greek.

Re: Brazil prisoners reading books to shorten their sentences (2020)

#56

Post by hobs »

SlowAndCalm wrote: post #45
adflux wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A smart friend of mine proudly stated how little he read in high school, and that he has not read a single book since. He is 26.

I read a lot of novels in school and not many after. Reading is a vital skill but reading novels is not; a separation that was never conveyed to me to in school. For every great novel I have read, I've read countless more terrible novels and there is no greater waste of time than reading something terrible. Not reading artfully constructed prose has definitely taken a toll on my own writing though, as evidenced by th…

Throw a bad book in the trash.

Don't read books you hate, just like you shouldn't converse with people that frustrate and anger you.

That being said, a novel is one of the most intimate conversations you can have, so don't give up on them because you have had bad experiences in the past, find a new partner to talk to!

Re: Brazil prisoners reading books to shorten their sentences (2020)

#57

Post by oscargrouch »

someperson wrote: post #43
yawaworht1978 wrote: post #3

This could be a bit discriminatory, Brazil has a high analphabetism rate, it will be worst in prison, I suppose. The ones who can't read should be offered courses and maybe start with easy comics.

> analphabetism I've never heard that word before. It's a synonym for illiteracy.

I was trained to understand that illiteracy in English means someone that cant read or write, but if it was translated as-is, illiteracy means "iletrado" -> someone "without letters" which in my mother language doesn't mean that someone cant read, but a broader category of people who cant read together with people who have very a poor language understanding and communication skills.

Some illiterate 'iletrado'(for us) in some cases can read, but might not understand it very well.

That might explain why the OP used the given word because in some languages its the definition that defines people who cant read.

Re: Brazil prisoners reading books to shorten their sentences (2020)

#59

Post by felipeqq2 »

emersonrsantos wrote: post #53
forinti wrote: post #8

Short tangencial bit of history: A Brazilian called Paulo Freire came up with a method which consists of coming up with a short list of words related to the pupils' day-to-day. These words have to cover all the phonemes in Portuguese and the pupils would discuss them. He managed to teach adults to read very quickly. But, as talking about your reality was integral to the method, he got into trouble with the then milit…

Paulo Freire plagiarized the Laubach method, created by the protestant missionary Frank Charles Laubach. The method was copied by marxists ideologists in Brazil's Pernambuco, emphasizing the class struggle. The author of these other primers was Paulo Freire, who lent his name to the "new methodology" as if it were his own.

It is important to notice that this claim is highly disputed. Paulo Freire and his methods are frequently attacked by far-right politicians and activists in Brazil, and this information is definitely politically biased.
Post reply on HN