Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

2023Goals2023 t1_jdfz14g wrote

Reply to comment by CountGrimthorpe in Why Kids Aren’t Falling in Love With Reading by drak0bsidian

I stopped reading when I immigrated to the USA and started highschool here. Went from barely any homework to hours of it every day. I stopped reading anything that wasn't assigned (and often didn't do assigned reading). My classes were either "college prep" and slow and mind-numbing, or honours/AP and very time consuming outside of school hours. In grade 11 I was in all AP, and have so many memories of my parent trying to get me to go to bed around 1AM before going to bed themself, and of my staying up hours after they did to do schoolwork and study. In grade 12 I did almost all College prep and dropped my AP math class halfway through the first semester so I wouldn't fail it. I had free time again but now hated school and was bored in my slow easy classes.

12

PartyPorpoise t1_jdgc3gc wrote

Keep in mind that most high school students aren't taking on this kind of workload. I don't think it's a big factor here.

5

2023Goals2023 t1_jdgldoy wrote

Of course they're not.

But splitting classes into easy and hard (and your school counselors, your family's finances and neighbourhood, your race, your sex, whether you're an immigrant and where from have a lot of influence on which one you're in) is very common. The boring easy classes and overly intense classes are both harmful in different ways. In "college prep" English we read Romeo and Julliet.... translated into modern English. Yes, that was as dull as it sounds. Classes moved slow and killed any potential interest in the subject.

EDIT: My understanding from kids I've tutored here is that before grade 9 classes aren't as split like they are in high school. I would guess kids who read more before high school are more likely to be part of the group in the higher level classes, and the workload is plenty to kill interest to read for fun

2