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

Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 364 posts

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#101

Post by raincole »

tyleo wrote: post #40

Comments here are very strange, “Reading books should go the way of cursive! Education is more like childcare anyways.” It’s bizarre stuff to say. What would you have the education system do? Put iPads in front of kids all day?

... Prepare shorter or lighter materials for them to read, as this article suggests? Why has reading whole books become the holy grail of education system?

The said education system expected this:

> As a high school student less than a decade ago, he was assigned many whole books and plays to read, among them, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” “The Crucible” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

Yeah, sounds like a very great way to filter out perhaps 20% of good readers and make sure the rest 80% will hate reading for the rest of their lives.

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#102

Post by Kim_Bruning »

corimaith wrote: post #97
Kim_Bruning wrote: post #92

Plausibly some kids might still be reading entire novels worth of text online on the regular. Think of all the massive fanfic archives (Including original fics) Lots of fanfic authors have fans of their own, and those have got to be coming from somewhere. It doesn't need to be in dead tree format. It doesn't need to be famous authors. Just so long as they read! For long form original see eg: * The last angel https://…

The writing quality and complexity of amateur content, even long-form is only around the level of a YA novel, truth be told alot of the stuff I was reading back in junior high in my school library had more depth than this. It's good that you can get people reading, but reading the equivalent of pulp is very different from real novel that isn't so bounded by tropes or genre limits.

90% of everything is crap.

  --Sturgeon's law.
Maybe even 99+% these days, seeing how easy it is to publish your first finger-painting online. Doesn't mean there isn't any good stuff, or even a lot of good stuff. 1% of a lot is still a lot.

(ps. and once you get people reading, they tend to keep doing it and develop taste over time. if it's even just a few who wouldn't have done it before. That's good, right?)

(pps. For example: at 2M words, I think pirateaba might exceed the "first 1M words are practice" threshold)

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#103

Post by lm28469 »

tssva wrote: post #93
adfm wrote: post #8

I’ve noticed some of these kids can’t tell time on analog clocks nor read cursive handwriting.

What? Next you are going to tell me they can’t use an abacus or properly impress cuneiform into clay tablets.

You should talk to teachers, lot of kids can't answer test questions because they don't even understand the words in the question... A growing proportion of kids are close to non functional, with multiple years of delay compared to previous generations.

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#104

Post by squigz »

corimaith wrote: post #97
Kim_Bruning wrote: post #92

Plausibly some kids might still be reading entire novels worth of text online on the regular. Think of all the massive fanfic archives (Including original fics) Lots of fanfic authors have fans of their own, and those have got to be coming from somewhere. It doesn't need to be in dead tree format. It doesn't need to be famous authors. Just so long as they read! For long form original see eg: * The last angel https://…

The writing quality and complexity of amateur content, even long-form is only around the level of a YA novel, truth be told alot of the stuff I was reading back in junior high in my school library had more depth than this. It's good that you can get people reading, but reading the equivalent of pulp is very different from real novel that isn't so bounded by tropes or genre limits.

Who cares? If people enjoy it, let them enjoy it. I've read a few YA novels as an adult that I enjoyed, even though I regularly read more complex stuff.

Most people, for most of history, have only ever enjoyed what might be considered "low quality" entertainment - pulp fiction, shitty plays, etc.

> real novel that isn't so bounded by tropes or genre limits.

Interestingly, even discounting YA and other stuff like that, you are only describing a very small subset of novels.

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#105

Post by squigz »

adfm wrote: post #8

I’ve noticed some of these kids can’t tell time on analog clocks nor read cursive handwriting.

These aren't really comparable. Cursive handwriting varies considerably between people. One person's might be very clear, another might be impossible to discern.

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#106

Post by kotaKat »

skeptrune wrote: post #78

All of the literature we recommend in school is outdated, so it makes sense to me that kids would not want to read them. More school districts should experiment with contemporary novels that make sense in a modern context.

> it makes sense to me that kids would not want to read them

That's why the 2026 remake of Animal Farm in animated form includes a twerking pig[1]. Education with brainrot is the future!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtjPGXZLW6g

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#107

Post by Kim_Bruning »

corimaith wrote: post #97
Kim_Bruning wrote: post #92

Plausibly some kids might still be reading entire novels worth of text online on the regular. Think of all the massive fanfic archives (Including original fics) Lots of fanfic authors have fans of their own, and those have got to be coming from somewhere. It doesn't need to be in dead tree format. It doesn't need to be famous authors. Just so long as they read! For long form original see eg: * The last angel https://…

The writing quality and complexity of amateur content, even long-form is only around the level of a YA novel, truth be told alot of the stuff I was reading back in junior high in my school library had more depth than this. It's good that you can get people reading, but reading the equivalent of pulp is very different from real novel that isn't so bounded by tropes or genre limits.

How can I forget Harry Potter And The Methods Of Rationality [1].

HPMOR is written by Eliezer Yudkowsky to promote rationalist concepts, and is somewhat influential in startup and AI circles.

Directly: Emmet Shear {co-founder of Twitch (YC S07)} is apparently superfan and gets a cameo.

So for once I get to post something that's almost on-topic for yc. :-P

[1] https://hpmor.com/

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/21/what-does-a-harry-potter-f...

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#108

Post by watwut »

Natsu wrote: post #33
brightball wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read a lot of books that fit my tastes as a kid, usually adventure/fantasy genre stuff. Never enjoyed the stuff that got assigned in school though. I’d probably like it now.

Anything you're forced to do too much you lose all enjoyment of. If you're given at least a bit of agency, it's far more enjoyable. I read because I wanted to all the time, but every reading assignment was a chore.

It is not just it being homework. It is not like I hated evything in school - I actually discovered quite a few intersting things there.

It is that books everyone here is said that kids dont read anymore or brags they read ... are just not interesting books for a kid.

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#109

Post by inimino »

Telaneo wrote: post #43
adfm wrote: post #8

I’ve noticed some of these kids can’t tell time on analog clocks nor read cursive handwriting.

I can read analogue clocks only because I was taught in school, and prefer digital ones for all use cases I have myself (other than maybe decorative?), and even when I do read an analogue clock face, I convert that to digital time in my head before I can properly parse it, so I have a hard time blaming them. There aren't many analogue clock faces I need to read in my life, and there are probably even less in theirs.…

> I convert that to digital time in my head

What? They are the same thing.

Re: Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

#110

Post by [deleted] »

Kim_Bruning wrote: post #107
corimaith wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The writing quality and complexity of amateur content, even long-form is only around the level of a YA novel, truth be told alot of the stuff I was reading back in junior high in my school library had more depth than this. It's good that you can get people reading, but reading the equivalent of pulp is very different from real novel that isn't so bounded by tropes or genre limits.

How can I forget Harry Potter And The Methods Of Rationality [1]. HPMOR is written by Eliezer Yudkowsky to promote rationalist concepts, and is somewhat influential in startup and AI circles. Directly: Emmet Shear {co-founder of Twitch (YC S07)} is apparently superfan and gets a cameo. So for once I get to post something that's almost on-topic for yc. :-P [1] https://hpmor.com/ [2] https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/21/w…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN