Why do certain kids hate reading?

[Vault101]

mabye its being forced to read books they dont like (as you said)

and if you dont like the book your reading it really does become a chore, and mabye youre less likley to seek out boosk that interest you

get the kids to read some stephen king..they'll love that shit!

 

[Hawk of Battle]

I love reading. I've read all of A Song of Ice and Fire since christmas. Before that, since August 2010 I read about a dozen or more 40k omnibuses and the entire Horus Heresy series. I've read the Dark Tower and LotRs twice. I read a lot is what I'm saying.

But by god, some of the shit they make you read in school is fucking painful. First we have the obvious Shakespeare (I remember Othello and Twelfth Night), both of which have some of the twistier plots and might have been interesting if not for 2 things; 1) We had to stop every third line so the teacher could explain what the hell was going on, which leads directly into 2) They're written in an archaic form that is extremely hard to follow for a lot of people, especially teenagers. I say this as a guy who likes to read, and reads pretty well, but even I struggled, so I have no idea how everyone else fared, but either way, when you have to keep stopping and starting to explain what the hell it is you're reading, it makes enjoying it almost impossible.

Then we have the other "classics" they teach in school, of which my most prominent memory is Jekyll and Hyde, which has got to be the most boring and ill paced piece of crap I've ever been forced to sit through. Again it's old and written in overly long winded format (not to Shakespeares level) but even if it wasn't it's still just so boring. Nothing happens for like 2/3 of the way through, everything that does happen is implied and when it gets around to revealing anything it's not even interesting, leaving the conclusion boring as well. If I never see that book again I can die happy.

And then we have the poetry. Oh ye gods the poetry. We had to sit there analysing this shit and figuring out all these hidden layers of meaning that all these pieces are supposed to represent (some of which I think the teacher just made up, frankly). My mind has never experianced such dullness.


So yeah, if kids aren't already into reading during school, then the schools themselves will probably put them right off it, judging by the crap they made us sit through.

The sad part is I sit eating my lunch in college these days, always with a book on the table in front of me, and you'd be amazed how many people give you odd looks, or ask stupid questions like "how you can sit there reading all that?" Some of them are even the adults.

 

[Freechoice]

"Books are fatal: they are the curse of the human race. Nine- tenths of existing books are nonsense, and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense. The greatest misfortune that ever befell man was the invention of printing."

-Benjamin motherfucking Disraeli

 

[Caine Master]

I remember when I was a kid a teacher had ask why you like or not like to read, and one student had said that he didn't like reading because he could just watch it on tv. I kind of wish I could back in time and tell the kid how much better the books are compared to the show version.

The book that really got me into reading was Eragon, one of the few books I have read more then once. It was kind of fun reading it because my mom and I would fight about who got to read the book next and hide it from each other.

 

[Tilted_Logic]

During highschool I was always forced to read books I had no interest in, and thus I had a hard time enjoying those specific novels. However, prior to highschool I was a big reader - which is actually funny considering in elementary I had a tutor because I couldn't read well at all. Anyway, during highschool I easily found myself juggling 2-3 books at a time on top of the required reading simply because I enjoyed reading on my own time.

Anyway, I'd be inclined to agree with you; I can definitely understand a growing resentment for reading simply because it's something you're forced to do. Take my brother for example. He's now in highschool, and prior to that you couldn't get him to touch a novel to save his life. Books on war or National Geographic magazines he was all over, but he'd never read an actual story as a means of escapism/enjoyment. During his first year of highschool however, the teacher put out some required reading - Darren Shan I think the author is - I'm not sure what the books are about exactly, but my brother LOVED them. After he passed the class my mother had to go out and buy him every book in the series because he loved them so much, and so did his other male friends who are usually all about videogames or sports, and had no interest in reading what-so-ever prior to that.

So I really think anyone could enjoy reading, they just need to find that one book that really grabs their attention.

 

[Zen Toombs]

Certain kids hate reading because there are far too few explosions.

As for how I got started reading - when I was a tiny tot, my parents read me books. According to my parents, I loved it and tried to learn to read as fast as I could. I've been doing so ever since.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I dont know, probably cause its not cool to read anymore. People have gotten more and more used to talking about TV and Games and if there is a book its more like a joke book or something celebrity endorsed.

at least thats what I think.

 

[DarkRyter]

Because reading is for squares.

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

Nope, screw what the kids want. They're going to learn Shakespeare, they're going to read 'Of Mice and Men'. I was reading 1984 and Great Expectations in my own time at age 14. I don't see why kids would have trouble reading the literature school make them read, sound like laziness to me.

Ok look i know you don't always get to read a novel your interested in but schools select those texts for specific reasons, mainly because its damn good literature that you young whippersnappers can't appreciate.

Ding! This is pretty much me. I can see why kids might not like reading the great books, since their being forced on them, but they're great for a reason, so we better make 'em read 'em. I read Shakespeare, Orwell, Dickens, Steinbeck, Wilde, Shaw, and Asimov on my own perogative, have since early in Secondary. Plus, I get perspective on books I wouldn't normally read even under those circumstances that come up in class; my love of dystopian fiction helped me understand and love M. T. Anderson's "Feed". It's worth it. It's out of love for the literature and the students that these books are on curiculums.

 

[Kolby Jack]

Competition. 60 years ago, it was books, playing outside, or social activities. If you weren't much of a socialite, you read books, and that was really it aside from the occasional movie or carnival or something. Now kids have dozens of entertainment options, so books aren't as attractive as they used to be. Some may see this as detrimental, but all I see is progress. Old media fades out, new media comes in.

Nope, screw what the kids want. They're going to learn Shakespeare, they're going to read 'Of Mice and Men'. I was reading 1984 and Great Expectations in my own time at age 14. I don't see why kids would have trouble reading the literature school make them read, sound like laziness to me.

Ok look i know you don't always get to read a novel your interested in but schools select those texts for specific reasons, mainly because its damn good literature that you young whippersnappers can't appreciate.

Ding! This is pretty much me. I can see why kids might not like reading the great books, since their being forced on them, but they're great for a reason, so we better make 'em read 'em. I read Shakespeare, Orwell, Dickens, Steinbeck, Wilde, Shaw, and Asimov on my own perogative, have since early in Secondary. Plus, I get perspective on books I wouldn't normally read even under those circumstances that come up in class; my love of dystopian fiction helped me understand and love M. T. Anderson's "Feed". It's worth it. It's out of love for the literature and the students that these books are on curiculums.

Lord of the Flies is considered a classic novel, and I had to read it in high school as an assignment.

IT. FUCKING. SUCKED. That book makes no fucking sense and doesn't deserve to occupy a place in my toilet let alone my bookshelf. Different people will have different opinions on books, even ones that other people tell them are "great."

I've read some classics in my life, mostly as school assignments, and I liked some, hated some, and was indifferent on others. I agree that having kids read these books for education is important, but they should do so to study and analyze them, not because us "adults" think it will enrich their minds, because that's just not true.

Also, Tale of Two Cities? Most boring book I've ever read. When a book makes a story about people getting their heads lopped off boring, it's pretty much a failure in my eyes.

 

[Signa]

Some kids are just allergic to intelligence.

Case in point:
I think also a lot of kids these days just don't like to use their imagination when there is a hundred things on TV that is far more exciting and flashy to view than some words on a page.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

Some kids are just allergic to intelligence.

Case in point:
I think also a lot of kids these days just don't like to use their imagination when there is a hundred things on TV that is far more exciting and flashy to view than some words on a page.

That was beautiful. Listening to their screams of pain as they were "educated" was hilarious.

 

[spartan231490]

Here's the truth: no one hates reading. It's just another form of storytelling. Just like no one hates movies or music or anything like that. The trick is finding the right book, just like the trick is finding the right movie, or the right music genre.

Further, do you wanna know how I know? Because I HATED reading. With a passion that I have never felt for anything since. All it took was finding the right book and now I read more than just about anyone. I've read every book with a story I liked that I could get my hands on since the seventh grade when a teacher assigned Hatchet, by Gary Paulson.

Once you find a book with a story you're interested in, you realize that reading a book is a lot like watching a movie. You've got your chick flicks and your romance novels. You've got your action packed man movies, and you've got your spy novels. It's just another way to get a story, it's the story that makes it interesting or not, the wrapping paper isn't that important.

 

[2fish]

It is more the books they want yu to read rather than the reading itself for me. I was happy to read my own books but while I could see the value of "classics" for exposure and study of they went on forever with it. I was exposed to shakey in 2 books of his work, I don't need to read the whole book either. Some of the went right over my head, making it no fun to read (also hurt by lack of context).

The trick seemed to be a nice mix of classics and stuff the class fund interesting. Not everyone likes reading the sam thing. So forcing a whole class to read one set of things seems like a mistake.

 

[wintercoat]

Why is the default "liking books"? Shouldn't the default state be "I have no opinion about reading"? Trying to force children to read because you think it's good for them does more harm than them not reading. It instills the notion that reading is something that needs to be forced. Let them come to it on their own, leave books out, but don't give it to them. The joy of reading comes from the discovery. And if they don't like reading, well then they don't like reading. There's nothing wrong with not liking a certain form of entertainment.

 

[OblivionFenix]

I know my brother hates books, but that's mainly because he's autistic. He doesn't hate reading per-se but because he can't comprehend most of what he reads, he has negative feelings towards books.I think it's also because he lacks imagination (also a byproduct of his disability)and so can't visualise anything he reads. I can't imagine books being very interesting to people who can't attribute a picture to words...

 

[Thespian]

I dunno, there's a lot of forms of entertainment that are more immediately satisfying than books, I guess. I know I'm sort of less interested in reading books these days than comics or games(Though I am just about to finish the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy... And I have Game of Thrones (the first one) and two Neil Gaiman books lined up... It was a good christmas) but then I also think people have glorified books a little. Books aren't automatically better than other forms of media. I think a parent would prefer a kid to read a crappy book than a really good comic, or game, too often. Which is just training bad habits into kids.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

My nephew went up three reading grades when I bought him a Nintendo DS...

Kids just need it to be presented in a way that entertains them. A lot of the time teachers give them the driest material available or the child only reads at school. This immediately associates it with studying and hard work.

Amazing how much better a kid will get when he wants to know what to do in his computer game

When he's old enough he will gain access to my comics.

 

[scorptatious]

I remember hating reading when I was little. I got over it as I grew older though.

Probably one of the books that really got me into reading was Silverwing. It was back in Middle School and we got to choose our own books. It was one of the few books I found myself having trouble putting down.

But yeah, I think you may be right in saying that kids don't really enjoy reading when it's forced upon them. I know I sure didn't back then.

 

[ultrachicken]

Probably depends on the kid, but there's also the fact that books are extremely passive and require a lot of focus and thought to enjoy. I'm not saying that kids aren't capable of focusing, but because kids already spend the majority of their days focused in school, they're likely too tired to continue doing that for fun.