What's the point of required reading?

Benjamin Lewis2 said:Reading assignments... what a headache. My daughter is a great student—she’s in 7th grade, works hard, hits all her deadlines, and stays on top of everything. She doesn't have issues with schoolwork in general. Her problem is these "reading assignments" and the weird little philosophies the English teacher keeps coming up with. It’s not enough to actually read the book, understand the plot, or finish a worksheet anymore. Now, they turn every book into these massive projects that feel more like college-level coursework, taking weeks to complete. Honestly, she can't tackle most of these demanding tasks on her own. As parents, we're stuck. How much help is too much? If we step in to help her meet these crazy requirements, the teacher claims she didn't do the work herself and won't give her credit. But if she tries it solo? She fails.
At this point, it doesn't even matter if she read the book. It's more about how tech-savvy you are, how well you use digital tools, or how creative and articulate you can be with whatever gimmick is being assigned this week. Trust me, picking a book from a library bin is fun and motivating, but this? This is something else entirely.
We actually spoke up and told the teacher she was overdoing it with these assignments. The response? We were told not to interfere since we aren't "professionals." Is this happening in other schools across the US too? Who are we supposed to go to for an actual expert opinion? Not everyone is aiming for an Ivy League education, and certainly not everyone is headed to a four-year university.

There isn't much you can do. It's the exact same story with my kid. She's in 8th grade now. Those 7th-grade reading assignments were basically doctoral theses or month-long projects. I went to a prep school myself, and that's the level of writing they expect for a simple reading assignment. Naturally, we can't do it ourselves.
With mine, the approach is this: she writes what she understands on her own, and for the parts she doesn't quite get, I help her out—but strictly by providing vocabulary or sentence structures so that she remains the one doing the actual writing. I don't even correct her spelling.
Twice a year, they don't even have to write anything; they just take a test on the books instead, and honestly, that's a blessing for the kids.

I mean, why aren't you guys trying to get a meeting with the professor? You're totally entitled to one

I guess everyone’s just too tired to get into these debates lately, which honestly feels like the new normal. It’s hard to even know what to say when you're faced with a prompt like this.
I usually try to stay out of it, but if you really want my take, I’m totally against this whole way of teaching.
My kid doesn't have any issues with their reading list, but I’ll be the first to admit that all these "projects"—not just the reading assignments—are basically just a massive overkill. The only real upside is getting used to different digital tools, but even then, it just feels like a giant mountain of wasted hours.
It’s a real struggle not to butt in and tell my kid what I actually think, so I’m just counting down the days until they graduate high school.

Exactly—though I suppose I’d also take the risk of being slightly embarrassed by it all.
And yeah, honestly, I am just counting down the days until middle school is finally over.

Does anyone happen to know if focusing on those big research projects and reading lists during high school actually pays off more in the long run? I’m totally flying blind here without any info.

Given how things look for her right now—and I suppose this is just my take—she could only really go up from here, or at most, stay exactly where she is.

school for life—honestly, a total disaster right from the jump.
man, if only everyone who stood out in the town square singing those idealistic anthems back in the day had actually realized what was coming...
and so on... I guess we’re just left dealing with the mess we have now.

urbantinker8 said:school for life—honestly, a total disaster right from the jump.
man, if only everyone who stood out in the town square singing those idealistic anthems back in the day had actually realized what was coming...
and so on... I guess we’re just left dealing with the mess we have now.

Well, we didn't know better at the time. We were out there singing in 2016 and 2017.
The real "school of life" experience actually started in 2020.
From what I can see, nobody is even bothering to run evaluations to figure out what’s working, what isn't, or what needs to be fixed...

Teachers did their training online and were given total autonomy to teach whatever they wanted. Then the pandemic hit, which basically gave kids the chance to educate themselves online anyway.
Regardless, the people who kicked off this reform aren't the ones seeing it through to the end. (I wonder how Divjak felt listening to us chanting for more computer science classes...)
Plus, the people implementing it now are getting even more momentum from pushy parents wanting specific things. 😍

By the way, if I remember correctly, back in the 2016 working group, they suggested Stulic as a reading option—though he ended up declining to be part of the curriculum himself. 🤣 But if we were making a song about the reading list, it might go something like this:

"Why don't they ever cut the power to primates?
Since they rarely pick up a book anyway.
And when they do read, it's usually the wrong stuff.
So why not just pull the plug on their electricity?"

Words, just empty words.
Regardless of who you point the finger at, the whole thing was poorly defined from the jump—it lacked any real structure, most of it felt totally unrealistic, and it was just stuffed with meaningless corporate jargon, so it’s no surprise that things ended up being even more of a mess than anyone originally anticipated.🙂
And now, I suppose, we aren't going to be getting rid of this disaster quite so easily.

Kenneth Brown5 said:Does anyone happen to know if focusing on those big research projects and reading lists during high school actually pays off more in the long run? I’m totally flying blind here without any info.

It really just comes down to the teacher, I guess. I remember counting down the minutes until middle school was finally over, and now? Now I'm feeling totally overwhelmed by high school too. Our whole education system here is honestly kind of a mess.

We all know how much screen time kids get these days. It’s why they aren't reading or writing nearly as much as they used to. Critical thinking? Imagination? Both are hitting record lows. Then you run into one "brilliant" English teacher who manages to kill whatever tiny spark for reading was left. Honestly, it hurts to see. It’s frustrating when an educator blames a broken school system for everything, acting like it's the only reason things are failing. Why does every book report have to be some ridiculous over-the-top project? Why can't we just talk about a book like we used to? Discuss it, debate it, retell it... just connect with the student. If they didn't like a book, maybe suggest they try it again later. But no, apparently nobody has the patience for that anymore. Instead, everyone is drowning in finals week. It's just two weeks of non-stop madness: oral exams, presentations, posters, comic strips, research papers, science experiments, reviews, those dreaded mind maps, or even filming a short movie. As if there aren't other days in the school year. Why don't we parents speak up? Because let's face it—nobody wants to hear from us. They don't care what we think, and they certainly don't want "unqualified" parents meddling in their business.

So, my daughter spent half the semester reading the exact same novel three different times—does that strike anyone else as totally bizarre given her mountain of other schoolwork and extracurriculars?
Basically, it was assigned reading, but the teacher kept the specific requirements a total mystery.
Like, she’d finish the book, then halfway through the month, the teacher would drop a random assignment on them, forcing her to go back through the pages just to hunt down specific quotes for some poster project or whatever.
Then, in the final week, they finally specified how many examples they needed, and since she didn't have enough from her previous passes, she had to dive back in yet again.
I’m not going to get into the specifics of what she actually had to find, just so she doesn't recognize her own story.
Has anyone ever dealt with anything even more chaotic than this?
Kids should be getting lost in stories for fun, not treating reading like a repetitive scavenger hunt for homework.
And honestly, it's tough knowing when to step in when you feel like these assignments are just making them lose interest in everything.

Kenneth Brown5 said:So, my daughter spent half the semester reading the exact same novel three different times—does that strike anyone else as totally bizarre given her mountain of other schoolwork and extracurriculars?
Basically, it was assigned reading, but the teacher kept the specific requirements a total mystery.
Like, she’d finish the book, then halfway through the month, the teacher would drop a random assignment on them, forcing her to go back through the pages just to hunt down specific quotes for some poster project or whatever.
Then, in the final week, they finally specified how many examples they needed, and since she didn't have enough from her previous passes, she had to dive back in yet again.
I’m not going to get into the specifics of what she actually had to find, just so she doesn't recognize her own story.
Has anyone ever dealt with anything even more chaotic than this?
Kids should be getting lost in stories for fun, not treating reading like a repetitive scavenger hunt for homework.
And honestly, it's tough knowing when to step in when you feel like these assignments are just making them lose interest in everything.

Yes. Some teachers definitely take it too far. In my kid's case, they tear these books apart for hours on end. Honestly, they should make it easier on themselves next time; if there are extra research tasks, just tell them to use a search function if there's a PDF available. Most of these books are online anyway.

Kenneth Brown5 said:So, my daughter spent half the semester reading the exact same novel three different times—does that strike anyone else as totally bizarre given her mountain of other schoolwork and extracurriculars?
Basically, it was assigned reading, but the teacher kept the specific requirements a total mystery.
Like, she’d finish the book, then halfway through the month, the teacher would drop a random assignment on them, forcing her to go back through the pages just to hunt down specific quotes for some poster project or whatever.
Then, in the final week, they finally specified how many examples they needed, and since she didn't have enough from her previous passes, she had to dive back in yet again.
I’m not going to get into the specifics of what she actually had to find, just so she doesn't recognize her own story.
Has anyone ever dealt with anything even more chaotic than this?
Kids should be getting lost in stories for fun, not treating reading like a repetitive scavenger hunt for homework.
And honestly, it's tough knowing when to step in when you feel like these assignments are just making them lose interest in everything.

It definitely isn't normal to read a book three times in such a short window because you end up forgetting the plot anyway.
Plus, it shouldn't be the case that assignments require hunting for tiny details in the text rather than actually remembering the story.

People have tried to convince me on this thread that "creative assignments" encourage kids to do research and that it's a great way to process a book (but there's zero actual research on whether kids are actually reading more or less because of it, since no one bothers to ask the students themselves).

In my opinion, book assignments should spark a love for reading, comprehension, retelling stories, or writing essays... but apparently, those aren't "popular" with kids or parents anymore. That's why we see all these posters, drawings, and even making videos these days.😬

Susan James said:It definitely isn't normal to read a book three times in such a short window because you end up forgetting the plot anyway.
Plus, it shouldn't be the case that assignments require hunting for tiny details in the text rather than actually remembering the story.

People have tried to convince me on this thread that "creative assignments" encourage kids to do research and that it's a great way to process a book (but there's zero actual research on whether kids are actually reading more or less because of it, since no one bothers to ask the students themselves).

In my opinion, book assignments should spark a love for reading, comprehension, retelling stories, or writing essays... but apparently, those aren't "popular" with kids or parents anymore. That's why we see all these posters, drawings, and even making videos these days.😬

so, pretty much anything except reading.

Are people still actually reading that Russian garbage in high school?

Easy for Russ—but what about Judith? Or that whole mess involving the tenant, maybe even some fishing and all that endless complaining that comes with it... I practically bled for this one

mellowskipper said:Easy for Russ—but what about Judith? Or that whole mess involving the tenant, maybe even some fishing and all that endless complaining that comes with it... I practically bled for this one

RIP Smile Age Chengic 🤦🤦

Larry Walker24 said:RIP Smile Age Chengic 🤦🤦

That was one of the two books I actually bothered reading in high school. Honestly, I still know Agostino by heart today. 😵

I swear, I finished prep school with an A in English, even though I didn't read half the required stuff. How does that even happen?

Larry Walker24 said:RIP Smile Age Chengic 🤦🤦

Honestly, this is one of those books that actually holds up.
I've read plenty of much worse.

The servant answers to Smail aga,
within his own Tower of London,
deep in Germany.