Post #6: Readicide

Readicide is the killing children’s desire to read. I think this is a huge problem in today’s schools. Between the way that teachers choose to teach books and the amount of literary fiction students are expected to read, it’s no wonder kids are falling out of love with reading.

In my experience, teachers go a little overboard when teaching classic books such as: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Great Gatsby, etc. With the massive amounts of notes, study guides, and quizzes there isn’t much time for me (or any other students) to appreciate the book itself. When teachers stand in front of the room and talk at students about what the author ‘truly meant’ when he/she said this it makes the book boring and hard to think about. All the fun and enjoyment is taken out of reading the book. Finding a meaning in a book that relates to the reader is what reading should be about. Not what the school thinks students should get out of it. Literary fiction is great to teach in schools, but not when it’s forced onto students and symbols and themes are shoved down their throats.

Literary fiction should not be removed from school’s curriculum completely. It does have some good issues that people still deal with today. Also, people need to read these to see our history and how themes still apply to this day and age. However, too much of these classics can be extremely boring and suffocating to students today. Schools need to find that balance between literary fiction and genre fiction. Genre fiction is in no way less ‘worthy’ to read in school than literary fiction. It’s has great themes that would go along well with the curriculum. Gene fiction is also a lot more fun and interesting for students to read. This will help with the problem of Readicide, making reading in school more enjoyable. If you look at The Hunger Games, students can learn about a dystopian society and government takeovers in a futuristic, engaging way.  

Critics shouldn’t sneer at genre fiction because that’s what people are reading today. It’s what is popular among children, teens and young adults. It’s what’s selling and being turned into million dollar movies. It’s what’s making its way on the bestsellers list. Kim Wright says, “Publishers, always the last to recognize a literary trend, are pursuing top genre writers who, for the first time, have not only bigger paychecks but genuine clout,” (Wright). Literary fiction will always be the classics that everyone should at least know about, but genre fiction is what everyone is reading now. The best way to keep kids reading is to incorporate genre fiction into school and get rid of some of the literary fiction that is causing Readicide.