How Are Schools Instilling the Love of Reading in Students?

by Hilde Garcia

This is a difficult post for me to write.  I have a unique perspective on reading. I’m not only a writer, but also a teacher in the public school system. I’m a product of yester-year’s public school.

What changed?
Money. 

Bottom line: the budget!  It’s been cut, chopped, and diced like those knives advertised on the informational channels for $19.99.

When I was a student of public schools in the 1970’s, schools were the focal point of a child’s day.  You went to school from 8am to 3pm.  Everyone ate in the cafeteria.  Parents picked up children or they simply walked home.  Schools offered art, music, and PE to all students.  

Fundraising was unheard of except for the occasional PTA bake sale that helped buy extra books for the library or some neat school improvement like a sign or a new flag.  Teachers had manageable class sizes- how’s 12-15 for kinder, 15-20 for lower grades and 25 for 4^th-6^th.

Schools weren’t overcrowded for the most part and administrators weren’t bogged down with so many special meetings and administrative concerns.  They would greet you at the gate in the morning, in the afternoon, at lunch, and visit classrooms. They were rarely off campus and rarely pulled in multiple directions.

Our teachers read to us with the lights off after lunch.  There was no madness about testing.  We painted, we laughed, we sang, we explored bugs, we loved going to school.

As an immigrant child whose parents did not speak English, I relied heavily on my teachers.  My parents revered my teachers like Gods.  Teachers weren't second-guessed; they weren't disrespected.  They were considered a child’s advocate.

I learned the word flamboyant from Mrs. Morris in 6^th grade. Mrs. Dobbs taught me how to write a proper thank you note and not to simply say, “Thanks for the lovely gift.” I still write the best thank you notes say the people who have received them. Mrs. Moncur taught me how to read the word shenanigans and also said I was the best speller in the 3^rd grade. But my greatest memory is Miss Cavanaugh who taught me how to read English when I was 5. I still correspond with her today. She opened up the world of reading. She read to us aloud every day during nap-time  I remember the sunshine coming in through PS 4’s window in the fall of 1972 in New Jersey. No other noise could be heard but her lyric voice and Dr. Seuss’ genius. 

I couldn’t speak a word of English when I began Kindergarten. By June, I was speaking both and reading both Spanish and English. By 3^rdgrade, I could read on a 6^th grade level and you couldn’t detect an accent in my speech in either.

While I am not naïve and I know it wasn’t like this everywhere for every student, it was a completely different time period.  The funding available for schools allowed for longer day, more individual time with each student, less interruptions, smaller class sizes and simply more focus on learning than on testing.

How different for the kids of today.  Every day I turn on the news and hear of millions of dollars that are cut from the budget.  No music, no art.  Who cares?  The kids don’t need it; they need to read and write.  I recall the Presidential Awards and how coveted and prestigious they were. I always wanted to get one and did more than my best in PE to do so.  Today, we have a generation of obese kids who don’t read.

So how does all this speak to my title of  “How are schools instilling the love of reading for students?  They are not, not really.  It’s up to us, the children’s book writers of the planet.  Like super heroes, we rescue children from Playstations everywhere and bring them back to wonder and magic in their minds.

Nowadays, kids read for the test. They learn to skim the passage for clues.  They learn to read the questions first to see what they will be quizzed on, before they scan the reading.  The test excerpts are not based on literary works of fiction or non-fiction. They are samples created for the test.  They are boring.

Teachers rarely have time to read to their classes because every minute has to be accounted for.  In most public schools teachers are mandated to teach for the test instead of teaching material that integrates all the subjects kids find interesting in order to motivate and inspire them.

I teach students that were born in the US and are labeled English Learners and never get rid of that label.  They can’t speak proper English nor can they speak Spanish to their parents.  I have 5^th and 6^th grade students reading on 2^nd and 3^rd grade levels.  

When I ask them do they read, they say not really.  They have quite a few reasons: no time, no books, don’t care, sibling bothers me, and the list continues.  These students are socially promoted every year.  And these students simply keep falling behind.

There is no love of reading instilled because why should students read when their level is the same as their kid sister’s?  Someone might see them check out a “baby” book.

Why should they love reading if from the very onset of their scholastic career, they are set up to fail? Our kids today can’t love to read like we did because our generation isn’t making that the forefront of education. It’s up to us, the writer’s of children’s literature to produce incredibly engaging works of fiction and non-fiction, so that in spite of all these obstacles, kids will read and be better for it.

We are the cavalry and our battle is uphill.  I say, “CHARGE!”  Write the book that will stop the war.

In an upcoming post, my daughter will share her views with you on What Kids Read.