That's right, Rush, you still have made a choice. 'Tis the season in high schools for course selection. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are determining what the next steps in their high school careers will be. As a teacher of English, I try to help students pick literature and composition classes that will help them get where they want to be at the end of high school, challenge them, and interest them all at the same time. With literature classes, I stress that students should choose a class they would be highly interested in. If a student doesn't love Shakespeare, taking our school's Shakespeare class because it might look impressive on a transcript is, in my opinion, a bad decision. When given a choice in the matter, life is too short to spend time, even just a semester, studying something because some university might approve.
For some kids, they already know what they want, and all they really need me for is a signature telling the counselors that I okayed their choice. I have seen over the years that these kids do not fit the stereotypical "nerd" profile, and in fact, they don't fit any stereotype at all. They employ a variety of means of expression, manners of dress, and are not defined by any one social label, but what they have in common is knowledge of self. They know what they like, as opposed to merely knowing what they don't like. But in truth, most students don't have a strong opinion on the matter of which literature class to take. Their opportunity to have an opinion is impeded by their lack of knowledge of self when it comes to reading for enjoyment. For once, I don't think this can be blamed on apathy, because students who aren't sure of what to choose when they look at the list of literature class options seem genuinely confused about what to do and earnestly seek my advice on which class I recommend for them. I think a lot of their ignorance of their own literary interests can be connected to how infrequently they read anything that they actually want to read, aside from text messages from friends and status updates on Facebook, of course. Since the studies mentioned in this article from Education World predate the ubiquity of smartphones in the hands of teenagers, I would imagine that Sustained Silent Reading programs are even more beneficial today. Many students now inhabit a world where the internet is literally available to them at all times, yet they choose to do other things with it than immerse themselves in the world of eBooks and online magazines that can be accessed through it anytime, anywhere.
And then I think of my son, who right now has a deep, burning interest in books-- particularly those featuring things on wheels, things that float, animals and their living quarters, and bunnies that are sleeping and/or are about to go to sleep. What will he be reading in ten years? And how? Will he be the first generation to carry all of his textbooks on a tablet or e-Reader? Will a chip implanted in his wrist project a 3-D image of words into the space in front of his eyes with a verbal command? Okay, that one is probably a "no," but while I don't have the answers to the other questions, I know that I will do all I can to infuse in him a knowledge of self when it comes to literature-- to know what the likes and what he doesn't when it comes to reading, so that if and when he has the opportunity to decide which type he will be immersed in for a semester of high school, he won't need his teacher, or me, at all.
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