reading rights

[Doug Johnson <palsdaj@VAX1.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>]

Hi folks,

First, I have to add my two cents worth about the LM_Net breakfast: it was
great fun, you're all a lot better looking than I had imagined, and despite
being lackeys of the heartless capitalist system, all the Linworth and Oryx
reps were pretty darn nice about hosting the thing. It was good to hear
Mike Eisenberg (and Milbury) get some strokes - they deserve them for
starting this revolutionary professional development opportunity.

Anyway, did you read in the Nov 14 _Newsweek_ Daniel Pennac's Reader's Bill
of Rights?  I wonder if he extends them to children?  They are:

        1. The right not to read
        2. The right to skip pages
        3. The right not to finish
        4. The right to reread
        5. The right to read anything
        6. The right to escapism
        7. The right to read anywhere
        8. The right to browse
        9. The right to read out loud
       10. The right to not defend your tastes


It sort of brought to mind a little piece I wrote years ago for the local
paper about how surprising it is _anyone_ learns to read. It began:

Consider being involuntarily placed in an institution which rigidly
controls your reading:

        -You are given only very short pieces of writing to read, not of
your choosing.  Many stories are of no personal interest to you.
        -You are to read fewer than 3 of these pieces each week.
        -This material is written to strict editorial standards of
vocabulary and sentence length.
        -Some of the vocabulary in each story has been purposely chosen to
be unfamiliar to you.
        -You are not allowed to read ahead, nor are you encouraged to
re-read what you have already read.
        -Many times you must listen as non-fluent readers read paragraphs
of stories aloud.
        -You are required to fill out 2 to 8 pages of difficult forms only
marginally related to the materials for each story before you may read the
next piece.
        -Discussion of the stories is restricted to factual occurrences in
plot.  Questions of character, motivation and theme rarely arise.

     Does this sound like a situation in Orwell's 1984? the "Twilight
Zone"? pre-Glasnost Russia?  What I've really described are our own
schools' attempts to teach children to read using only "basal readers" and
textbooks.  Remarkably most children develop at least minimal basic reading
skills in such a program.  Less remarkably, far too few students develop a
strong enough love of reading to make it as compelling an activity as
television or video games.

And so on....

Sounds like Pennac's _Better Than Life_ is worth picking up.

Doug




Doug Johnson, District Media Supervisor | The sweat of hard work is not to
Mankato Public Schools, ISD 77          | be displayed.  It is much more
Box 8713, Mankato MN 56002-8713         | graceful to appear favored by the
Phone: 507-387-7698                     | gods.       Maxine Hong Kingston
djohns1@west.isd77.k12.mn.us (or)
palsdaj@va1.mankato.msus.edu