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Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class

nytimes.com

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

#181

Post by squigz »

SubmarineClub wrote: post #121
squigz wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>Who cares? I do? Why would I want my kids to be consuming crap when they could be engaging with great works and high art?

Because what constitutes "crap" and "great works and high art" is highly subjective both to personal tastes and the culture of the time.

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

#182

Post by opello »

dooglius wrote: post #156
opello wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was intrigued by the idea that it might be unreasonable for a book to include a glossary or dictionary to explain usages for made up or unfamiliar terms. I like that this list [1] exists because I was struggling to think of such a book. But then I thought about The Lord of the Rings, and it even includes an index of terms among its appendices, which is something I remember using to revisit parts of the story when I…

I think you are missing the broader point: why should one read things occurring in an alien context to begin with? It's not as if there is a dearth of more modern works. It seems like the main function of selecting older works is to make it artificially harder for students to read.

> why should one read things occurring in an alien context to begin with?

I think there's a trivial answer which is that all things you encounter are fundamentally from an alien context. The degree of alien and intention of the action are the things to consider before proceeding.

For example, why would one choose to read the account of a survivor of tragedy? To develop some amount of (emotional or cognitive) empathy? To learn a broader way of thinking that could apply to a future situation? Most simply: to learn from the past.

If the goal is entertainment, evaluate your participation such that you maximize your utility. If the goal is learning, one should be wary of premature rejection without sufficient context to avoid missing the lesson. And there is an annoying reality in which most situations can teach something.

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

#183

Post by epolanski »

eimrine wrote: post #137
epolanski wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any job position requiring intelligence and nuance which unavoidably stems from informing yourself.

But the same will inevitably make you hating the capitalism which eventually makes you not better candidate on the market but worse.

I hate capitalism but I don't make the rules so play the game anyway.

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

#184

Post by apparent »

spicyusername wrote: post #115

I never understand where these anecdotes come from. I live in a rural Red State, a place you'd expect less reading, and my kids, and many of their friends, read full books all the time and have since they were quite young. The curriculum in our public school regularly requires kids to read full books for class, and the kids you'd expect from the homes you'd expect read plenty. So whatever the problem is, if there eve…

> I live in a rural Red State, a place you'd expect less reading

I would not assume this, given that the states with the highest literacy rates are mostly rural and at least half red (NH, MN, ND, VT, SD, NE).

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

#185

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

tayo42 wrote: post #154
ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'm an independent thinker. One symptom is that I repeatedly find myself observing that other people do things because they're copying other people. This is one symptom, but there's more. > Do you think it’s a competitive advantage > I could be much more functional to society/work/relationships > most successful people in society, are successful _because_ they have mainstream thought patterns Don't care, I'm…

So what is your independent thinking doing for you? Are you happier then most?

To me, thinking independently isn't a mean to an end, it's an end in itself.

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

#186

Post by apparent »

They're axing honors classes in our high schools so they can mix all the kids together for equity. But because some of the students can't read very well (even in 10th grade), they have to read the books aloud during class, since it would be inequitable to require the kids to read on their own at home.

Not surprisingly, when you're rate-limited by read-aloud speed, you can't get through that many books and excerpts are a natural response.

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

#187

Post by amitav1 »

adfm wrote: post #8

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

This sort of thing is some of the weirdest pseudointellectualism I've seen. Most adults and seniors also can't tell where they are by the position of the stars, or write with a fountain pen, or use a sliderule, or read a sundial. Because now we have Google Maps, ballpoint pens, calculators, and analog clocks.

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

#188

Post by pandaman »

onraglanroad wrote: post #168
barbazoo wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let the market solve it. If the market requires educated adults the market will create that environment or something, answer is probably private schools. I assume they’d say something like that.

I think you're going to attract downvotes from people who just read your first sentence and assume that's the actual gist of your post.

And the people who read the whole comment and see the low effort straw man argument.

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

#189

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

techblueberry wrote: post #166
ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'm an independent thinker. One symptom is that I repeatedly find myself observing that other people do things because they're copying other people. This is one symptom, but there's more. > Do you think it’s a competitive advantage > I could be much more functional to society/work/relationships > most successful people in society, are successful _because_ they have mainstream thought patterns Don't care, I'm…

This sounds like a very common sort of misanthropic attitude I see littered around the web. You know how they say - like in making music - in order to break the rules you have understand them? I don’t like the take directly, but as a person who makes music, what I realize, and I think this is what they meant, it if you don’t study music, most people are likely to naturally slide into the most simplistic forms of it,…

> copying all the self-defined independent thinkers

At this point I can no longer put effort into responding to you. You think that my conception of "thinking for myself" is "listening to people who claim they think for themselves, and repeat what they say"? You know the HN principle of "assume the most generous interpretation"? This is the opposite.

Anyway, FYI, you sound like you're trying to deradicalize an andrew tate fanboy. You're A) really bad at feigning your concern, and B) extremely off target.

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