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Reading lists was one of the dumbest inventions ever and designed for parent torture. It wasn't so much an assignment of book quantity, but the huge writing research assignments that accompanied each assigned book. There are 2 major problems. Firstly, there are hundreds of different school districts where I live, but most of the reading lists from each school had fairly similar assigned books for each grade; you know, the older and modern classics that most teachers want their children to be exposed to and are appropriate for the same grade level. Nothing wrong with that, but what happens is there is a mad dash to get these books out of the library. The library has 2 copies of each book and there are 500 hundred kids that need to read the same book. So if you don't have money like me, you drop everything to run to the library to get the books, hoping that your kid got the reading list from their home school before other kids from other schools got their list. Otherwise, you end up buying the books. The other logistical problem is that in my area, the majority of kids go to sleep away camp from June through August. So they can't do the assignment anyway. They come back in August and they're all making a mad dash to get the books and cram in the assignment and if you have a family vacation planned in August, they have even less time to do it. The reading lists seemed to only sour kids who read voraciously anyway and who were already reading a few levels above their grade.
They might provide a purpose for low socieconomic children where reading is not encouraged at home, but where I am, they are unnecessary and seem to be pushed just for the sake of trying to give the impression that the school has all their bases covered.
I assume the parents who are sending their kids to camp and going on vacation can afford to buy the books.
Our library has multiple copies of the books, but I actually did buy the HS ones for my oldest child because I realized that all three could use them, and they did. After I was done I loaned them to friends with younger kids. The teens themselves shared copies too. As they say, this is a first world problem...
I always go back to the Hart and Risley study from 1995 which examined the language exposure of young children in the home. The policy makers in this country seem to think that the achievement gap occurs because of disparities in public schooling, when it was demonstrated over a decade ago that it originates in the home and grows because of the differences in out-of-school experiences.
After two decades of teaching in the inner-city, I have seen this results first hand. It is most distressing to me these last five years, when I started teaching the children who were born to my students when I first began at my current school. That's why I include as part of my homework for all school breaks to read and read to the little kids. For summer, I also add "Take a kid to the zoo." My rationale is that there is a serious experience gap between poor children who spend their summers hanging out in the streets and their middle- and upper-class counterparts who spend their time on family vacations or in summer camps.
Many other countries provide summer camp experiences for poor children so that they can relate to stories about going to the beach or the mountains. They recognize the relationship between experience and classroom achievement. Can you imagine the outcry if the taxpayers were told that their money was going to be spent on beach outings for children of welfare moms?
I am familiar with that study and I agree completely!
The experiences of middle class children and above give rise to curiosity and interests. Interests other than interaction with others of the same back ground.
Underclass children have only one frame of reference - the street and the people on it.
At a certain point, it becomes too late to introduce these experiences into a child's life, and indeed childhood is shorter for these children, often ending abruptly with an unplanned pregnancy.
If such a program was offered, I'd not be one of the tax payers who would be outraged. I'd be thrilled!
Middle class and Upper middle class children have far less unstructured time than do their working class and underclass counterparts.
Interestingly, when I was first married, we bought our first home in a white working class suburb. These women were actually against any sort of summer programs and thought that it was preferential to "run in the streets and hang out all summer, like normal kids." One berated me for "shipping my kids off" to day camp!
I noticed that the children had few interests. My son went through a dinosaur and shark phase, a Native American phase, a Civil War and WWII phase, Tsunami and other extreme weather phase. My daughter went through a horse and pony phase, a Victorian phase, a ballet phase, an Australian phase and a Native American Phase.
These "phases" gave rise to reading, family vacations, museum trips and now as teenagers, life long interests. We have never made it to Australia interestingly, that interest came from having camp counselors who are from that country! Their interest in Native American Culture also came from summer camp.
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If a child plays ball all day, flips cards, watches TV and roams around the streets I don't see how that translates in an organic way into book reading or higher education.
It's kind of like attempting to graft a branch on to a rock.
I assume the parents who are sending their kids to camp and going on vacation can afford to buy the books.
Yes, possibly, but then these are the same kids who have to cram the assignment that was designed to be done over an entire summer in a matter of 1-2 weeks. They get nothing out of it since they are usually the ones who read voluntarily during the year. Naturally, the kids resent it, but parents resent it too because it cuts into family time and when 2 parents work, it would be nice to have one week of summer fun with your kids. Family time is just as important for development as reading. I'm not saying that required summer reading wouldn't be applicable in certain situations, but for many good students, it's just gratutious busy work. These are not the types of kids who are going to "forget" how to read over summer.
If teachers think that there are certain pieces of literature their students should be exposed to, that's great. But include it as part of the curriculum during the school year and spread out book purchases throughout the year. Some of the books that I had to get for my high schooler were large volumes of literature/philosophy or only available in hardcover and cost $30-$40 or more. Then after spending all that money on several expensive books, the books are only used for a week or two at the beginning of Sept. and it's over.
You know what "good" students forget over the summer? Not how to read, but rather math. Every teacher has to spend the first few weeks of the new school term reviewing last year's math before they can start the new stuff.
Yes, possibly, but then these are the same kids who have to cram the assignment that was designed to be done over an entire summer in a matter of 1-2 weeks. They get nothing out of it since they are usually the ones who read voluntarily during the year. Naturally, the kids resent it, but parents resent it too because it cuts into family time and when 2 parents work, it would be nice to have one week of summer fun with your kids. Family time is just as important for development as reading. I'm not saying that required summer reading wouldn't be applicable in certain situations, but for many good students, it's just gratutious busy work. These are not the types of kids who are going to "forget" how to read over summer.
If teachers think that there are certain pieces of literature their students should be exposed to, that's great. But include it as part of the curriculum during the school year and spread out book purchases throughout the year. Some of the books that I had to get for my high schooler were large volumes of literature/philosophy or only available in hardcover and cost $30-$40 or more. Then after spending all that money on several expensive books, the books are only used for a week or two at the beginning of Sept. and it's over.
You know what "good" students forget over the summer? Not how to read, but rather math. Every teacher has to spend the first few weeks of the new school term reviewing last year's math before they can start the new stuff.
I have a hard time believing that "large volumes of literature/philosophy" were assigned for summer reading and if so, that the school district did not provide the books. Most classics that are assigned for summer reading can be picked up used on Amazon.com or Half.com for little more than the cost of shipping, which is $3.99 on Amazon.
Surprised that no one here has mentioned the Harry Potter phenomenon. When the newest book was released each summer, that was one book that didn't have to be included on any teacher's summer reading list.
I have a hard time believing that "large volumes of literature/philosophy" were assigned for summer reading and if so, that the school district did not provide the books. Most classics that are assigned for summer reading can be picked up used on Amazon.com or Half.com for little more than the cost of shipping, which is $3.99 on Amazon.
They weren't classics. Those were covered during the school year and the school provided them. Summer books were the newest best sellers by guys like Thomas Friedman, Michael Sandel, or Pete Hamil. Some of the required books were fiction, but many were not. This was at the high school level.
Yes, possibly, but then these are the same kids who have to cram the assignment that was designed to be done over an entire summer in a matter of 1-2 weeks. They get nothing out of it since they are usually the ones who read voluntarily during the year. Naturally, the kids resent it, but parents resent it too because it cuts into family time and when 2 parents work, it would be nice to have one week of summer fun with your kids. Family time is just as important for development as reading.
I am not a big fan of summer reading but I think it is pretty ridiculous to send your kids off to camp for nearly the entire summer and then blame summer reading for cutting into family time.
I don't like summer reading because it doesn't give kids a chance to do other things besides school. I am a huge proponent of education but I also believe that education occurs in other places besides school. However, sending your kid away for the whole summer and then blaming the school for the lack of family time is pretty ridiculous. If you want family time keep your kid home during the summer.
Our library has multiple copies of the books, but I actually did buy the HS ones for my oldest child because I realized that all three could use them, and they did. After I was done I loaned them to friends with younger kids. The teens themselves shared copies too. As they say, this is a first world problem...
When you look at it the whole ball of educational ball of wax is really a first world problem too, isn't it?
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