(Untitled)

[ceciliaj]

When did lazy undergrads take over The Atlantic?

Comments

[max_ambiguity]

I think it's just a poorly written articlette (I just can't call it an article at that length) on slow reading. There are some really compelling arguments for doing slow reading with students, but when you write "We should end it. Students almost universally hate close reading, and they rarely wind up understanding it anyway," you're not getting them across. What a lame sentence. You could stick anything in it in place of "close reading" and it would be just as inaccurate. Watch:

We should end it. Students almost universally hate algebra, and they rarely wind up understanding it anyway.

We should end it. Students almost universally hate physical education, and they rarely wind up understanding it anyway.

We should end it. Students almost universally hate Shakespeare, and they rarely wind up understanding it anyway.

We should end it. Students almost universally hate art, and they rarely wind up understanding it anyway.

[max_ambiguity]

Ha ha! Click on the author's name to see what else she's written for The Atlantic.

[ceciliaj]

Lol! Something seemed off.

[max_ambiguity]

I meant it's an articlette against slow reading.

[knut_hamson]

Furthermore, aiming for fifteen books a year, rather than five, might expose the students to more good literature (immersion in quality prose being one of the best ways of learning writing) and increase their chances of finding a book they like.

Or, I would say to this author, students could read anything they want on their own time. They can read as much as they want, as quickly as they want, and whatever they want.

[max_ambiguity]

That's what I did. And I was definitely more than five books a year in school on top of that. And I played video games as often as I could. And watched two hours of tv a night.

[ceciliaj]

No, the mean English teachers took all the fun out of it. Definitively. The kids are traumatized.

[cameer]

I second your opinion.