Why do certain kids hate reading?

[Palademon]

I don't enjoy reading books. I'm very good at it, I just don't like it. I always can't remember the exact point on a page I stopped, leading to me reading the same bit over and over without knowing, and many books I've read didn't clarify enough about a change of scene so when they mention the characters doing something in a new place I flip back pages and go "WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN????". People would say to use your imagination, and I say the author hasn't given me enough information to use my imagination.
I could never find books that interested me. Whenever we had to write stories in english, my teacher would always remind me to give my story a hook to make the reader want to keep reading, and I'd always reply "SHOW ME ONE BOOK THAT DOES THAT!".

The only book I ever read all the way through by choice was Death Note's 180 page prequel light novel. I really enjoyed that.
However I bought L change the world after that and just can't get into it as much. I guess I just really liked how the other book focused on so few characters.

 

[Zorpheus]

I vividly remember in High School hearing someone BRAGGING that they don't read unless they are forced to.

And yes, schools are a problem in their mandatory reading. Classic literature isn't something easily appreciated by kids, and any school curriculum that forces people to read Wuthering Heights should have the school it is housed in burned to the ground.

If they must have mandatory reading of classic literature, put in some fun books as well. I remember in Elementary School, the teacher used to read us parts of a book after lunch, and they were usually fun books, like Goosebumps. Granted we never needed to write reports on them or anything. Maybe it's a combination of being forced to read books they aren't interested in combined with having to do work on them on top of that.

I also vividly remember being teased at school quite a bit because I chose to read recreationally rather than play at recess. Books that were far beyond my grade's typical reading level, even. The other kids would go as far as continually pester me to keep me from reading, throw stuff at me and occasionally even destroy my book. Kids will be kids, of course, but it was thanks to either the schools or their parents that made them think 'only nerds do that' when they see someone reading.

My favorite class in my High School Senior Year was called "Independent Reading". It was the model reading class. You'd read whatever book you wanted, and wrote in a log about what you read during the hour you were there. Periodically throughout the semester, you'd do some kind of report or presentation on it. I wish I hadn't decided to try reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy during that class, but oh well. At least I learned the class thought the name "Bilbo" was the height of comedy.

 

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

Why read when literally every other form of entertainment is so much more easy to get into? I'm 15 and even if i enjoy a book i have to force myself to read it to some degree.

I kind of agree with you, i can only vaguely remember enjoying one book i've had to read for school and that was in primary four or five. Schools don't encourage you to read for reading's sake, they do so they have something to make you write an essay about.

I was a little bit amazed when i finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray because A) i finished it in two days i enjoyed it that much and B) i didn't have to spend months writing about the themes and memorising quotations.

On the other hand, there's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry which is a decent book whose good name shall forever be soiled in my mind with memories being bored to shit writing essay after essay about T.J fucking Avery.

 

[mysecondlife]

If more schools let children pick a book they might enjoy reading, they could grow to love it.

Your school didn't have a library?

Your parents didn't read books to you from the time you were born and buy books for you or take you to the library throughout your early childhood?

I think what he means is that School should have curriculum which encourages kids to read what they like.

My highschool forced me to read 'Their eyes were watching god' and 'Housekeeping', none of which I was interested in.

But when my English class gave me a choice to pick and read European literature, I picked Sherlock Holmes, which I immensely enjoyed.

 

[Littaly]

I've been down that line of thought myself, especially while I was in 7-9th grade, but also in high school. I think there's definitely some truth to it. I used to read quite a bit as a kid, but I kind of quit when I came to transition between children/YA books and regular literature. Part of it, I think can be attributed to school forcing me to read books. Even in the odd case where I was forced to read a book that I kind of liked, it still felt like work. When you've spent hours reading the day's quota of pages in whatever book was your homework that month, the first thing that comes to your mind likely won't be "Hey! You know what would be sweet right about now? Some time alone with a nice book". At least that wasn't the case for me.

But at the same time, I'm not going to deny that at least a part of it has to do with me being part of the video game generation. I can definitely tell I have low tolerance for stories that don't go anywhere, books, even movies that take half their length to get going bore the crap out of me. Not to speak of books or movies where there is barely any plot at all. I don't know if that's because I was brought up on a diet of video games or if it's just how I am, but my short attention span when it comes to setup vs. plot has definitely kept me away from books just as much as school has.

Also, I want to add, I don't think you should necessarily stop teaching classic books in school. Even the boring ones. Some of them are definitely part of history and reading and understanding them is important to understanding a lot of things, especially when it comes to other works of art. And if we're not forced to it, kids like me are never going to do it, and who knows, down the line some of us may even benefit from it.

 

[Benni88]

I'm not sure the reasons, but they're certainly missing out. I've read since i was a kid, probably cos my dad read to me and then when we got older took us to the library, bought us books as presents etc, etc.

I think everyone has SOMETHING they can read, they just need to be introduced to it. Most of the battle is finding something which engages the reader.

 

[Rblade]

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.

I don't agree. You don't get someone into gaming by throwing them into competitive WoW PvP. You don't get someone into reading by making their first experience with it being some kind of complex 18th century word smith forging an elaborate narrative. You might like it but to most it will just seem weird scary and stupid. Thats how most teens work, what they are bad at or don't understand is "stupid". So you let them right nice stories, epic adventures, or funny tales. And then you slowely advance them into the more classic material.

I also think this is more upto parents then it is upto schools. Most young people don't like anything that is presented to them at school, just out of the principal of the matter.

you have to like it before you can learn it

 

[Hosker]

You're generalising a bit too much there, I think. But, nevertheless, why should they read?

If you really don't know the answer, you need to read more.

On the contrary, I normally read about an hour or two a day. It does little more for the brain than what television does.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

For me the first books I can remember reading myself where several of Enid Blyton's books such as Famous Five and Secret Seven when I was about 8 or 9 years old.

I think schools are partly to blame by making kids study and look into a book too much rather than enjoying the book for what it is. Alot of kids will then always associate reading books with work rather than as a form of entertainment. I still shy away from Dickens and Hemmingway books because of my time over analysing them in school. And that's saying nothing about reading Shakespeare in school, Shakespeare wrote plays dammit and you don't read plays you watch them.

Secondly I think exposure to books from a young age helps kids develop an interest in reading, and for that to happen it needs parents to actually encourage reading. I have noticed that children tend not like reading have parents who didn't read themselves[footnote]not saying this a fact just some personal observation[/footnote] so its likely the child has followed the parent's example.

 

[zidine100]

i think its a combination of a few thing

schools instance on you must read to be smart, here read this now write me a essay on it. Do you know any bigger way of killing any enjoyment from anything than knowing that your going to have to write a 1000 word essay on it later, i cant.

And then there's parents that force there kids to read, not encourage ,force, forcing someone to do something is not going to make it fun for them, its going to kill any enjoyment you can get from them.

But the most prominent reason is the fact that i didn't really enjoy reading too much in the first place, i can dress it up however you want but, its true i don't like reading books, and i didnt back then.

hell i enjoyed some of the books at school, lord of the flies particularly, and some of the books i was forced to read at home, but i honestly cant pick one up, why because its associated with boredom now, and well i never really enjoyed reading too much in the first place.

 

[zxvcasdfqwerzxcv]

I think its down to parents not trying to engage their children with the written word at a young age. Instead they just sit the kids in front of the TV. Reading requires effort and concentration (particularly for kids learning to read) - TV requires minimal brainpower. As those kids grow up, I imagine a lot of them just stick to the easier path of not reading. Which is tragic really! Books are amazing and there are thousands of worthy books to read. Also I'm fairly convinced that reading leads to a better imagination, lingual skills, creativity and all in all a better mind!

 

[Restoshamankk]

I didnt like reading books because the kids books were not interesting, once we got past that it was okay.

 

[ultimateownage]

My friend says he would rather read the dictionary cover-to-cover than ever read a fiction book. He says he can't see any reason why someone would read a book when they can see a film adaptation of it instead.
I don't care though, because he's a self centred prick anyway. All of the rest of his opinions are just as retarded, especially with popular things like music.

 

[LordFisheh]

To be fair, while there are tons of valid criticisms of parents and schools, some people simply don't like certain things. Some people don't enjoy gaming, some hate travel, personally I barely watch TV. Just like that, reading as a hobby isn't for everyone, and I don't think that the intellectual pedestal we put it on is reason enough to brand not enjoying books as a 'bad' thing.

 

[Aetera]

Perhaps they were exposed to James Joyce? I know that would have driven me away from literature completely if that had happened to me in, say, middle school instead of college like it was. This can be combated with the liberal application of the works of Oscar Wilde.

Oscar Wilde should be mandatory reading for everyone. Everyone. All the time. Although, that might cause an inordinate amount of English majors. We need science people too, I suppose. Hm.

 

[MetalMagpie]

This is just my personal opinion, but I think it's because schools try to force books that kids have no interest for down their throats too often.

Why should everyone like reading? It's just an activity. You might as well say "I think the reason not all kids like skateboarding is because they have it forced on them". Some kids just don't like reading!

 

[scorptatious]

. See, apparently, a "classic" has to be a cliche storm as well as a commentary on issues that were only relevant a century ago.

Actually yeah, that makes a lot of sense when you put it that way. Nearly every book I was assigned to read back in High School was a commentary on a certain issue from back in it's time. One book I read, I forgot what the title was, sort of commentated on Cambodia when it was taken over by Pol Pot.

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.

Silver Wing was an amazing book and part of a brilliant trilogy. It's been probably more than a decade since I read it, but it was pretty awesome from memory.

That's one thing I forgot to mention. Silverwing was also one of the first books that got me into reading the rest of the books in the series by my own free will. And yes, the other two books were brilliant as well.

 

[Something Amyss]

If more schools let children pick a book they might enjoy reading, they could grow to love it.

Your school didn't have a library?

Your parents didn't read books to you from the time you were born and buy books for you or take you to the library throughout your early childhood?

My school had a library, but 90% of the books were assigned. This could be a problem for many people.

It was technically a problem for me, too. I got called a liar when I said I'd already read some of these books.

Which I had.

My parents, of course, did take me to the library and read to me at a young age. But still, I can see why school would be a frustrating experience for many.

Though Shakespeare was a problem for me. I hated reading period English. Didn't help I was an undiagnosed (at that point) dyslexic.

There's a book called skulduggery pleasant, which was a dark comedy/fantasy with a skeleton playing the title character that I read when I was about 10. I cannot believe it's not as popular as other young adult novels, it had witty characters, believable dialogue, and an interesting premise. I get annoyed when my fellow high schoolers just dismiss reading as some boring, trivial activity getting in the way of their usual activities i.e. getting high and/or retarded.

I was recommended the series despite being well above the standard age. I'm told the series is really good.

...And once I thin out my backlog a bit, I probably will try it.

 

[Simeon Ivanov]

I mostly agree with you OP. There are some books I've enjoyed like The Count of Monte Cristo and Terry Pratchet's work, but I discovered those purely by incident. But the most books I've read are because my teacher made me. And they sucked, oh god how much they've sucked. Now, I'm sure someone likes them, but I can't, for the love of me, focus on Dante's Inferno or Faust for more than 20 minutes before I fall asleep.

 

[Patrick Buck]

I love reading. So much. And I did it so much when I was a young kid, I can read stupidly quickly now. It's wonderful. So much fun to be had. And it opens up your mind. It's only a wonderful thing. I can't think of any negative things to say about it.

But I would imagine people in my school don't like it. Well, a few do, but most are more interested in getting shitfaced, and failing their exams.