How Teachers Make Students Hate Reading

By: John Holt

John Holt, author of “How Teachers Make Students Hate Reading,” explains the reasoning behind how the conventional ideals adapted by many English teachers during their days of schooling have hindered children of today from enjoying reading and writing in school and on their own time. 

  I agree with Holt’s stance on the issue of revising the conventional ideals of reading and writing practiced by many English teachers. Before, starting public school children are exposed to a world of literature, which allows them to express themselves without writing or speaking out of grammatical context. Often time’s teachers become so caught up with the minor details that they forget the big picture. Students should be encouraged to share their take on what they read therefore launching a discussion exploring the different themes expressed throughout the text. As a child I enjoyed reading, it allowed me to enter into worlds not similar to mines. I loved laying by the sliding glass doors in my living room with a pillow underneath my head reading If You Give a Mouse A Cookie. I also indulged in reading books well beyond my reading level never once stopping to lookup the definition of a word. The big words I would encountered never seemed to discourage me from continuing on towards the next chapters that followed. As I entered into elementary and middle school reading became more of bother than an enjoyment for me. I can remember my teachers giving us tests, every day. In high school my teacher assigned books, which sparked controversy on matters of classism and racism. Every night we were assigned two to three chapters and given a quiz the next day. The quizzes were created in a way that my teacher’s views on the issues where incorporated into the questions. Having a difference in opinion on the subjects usually resulted in lower scores. I never understood why we were made to read these long books,but never invited to share our stance on the topics. 

Personally, I believe in order to renew student’s joy of writing and reading it is important to let students sample works of literature and allow for them to create their own questions and discussion topics. Nothing more contributes to a student’s proficiency in reading and writing than being able to journey outside of the academic norm. In order to abandon the conventional ways of teaching it is important that teachers refer to their students for guidance as they hold the key to efficiently crafting generations of well-rounded readers and writers.