When was the last time you read a book for fun? I wish I could say, “Easy! I read this great book last week.” But in reality, it was back in like eighth grade.
Middle school was the peak of my reading habits: The workload was chill, and there was even reading time built into the bell schedule. Former Maywood students, you remember Charger Time, right? To me, it was literally the best part of the day because I could spend 30 minutes losing myself in the worlds of my fantasy books. Even after school or during independent work time, you’d still catch me reading–that’s how obsessed I was.
Unfortunately, things have changed, and my devotion to reading has diminished.
Adults, especially teachers, are always saying that this generation of teenagers doesn’t read enough. In terms of leisure reading, they’re probably right: Now, in high school, I can’t imagine having the time or headspace to read a book that’s not on the syllabus of an English course.
However, I speak for myself–and other book-loving students–when I say my lack of independent reading is not out of dislike. In fact, I truly miss the thrill of reading. What keeps me from reading is how consuming it can become when I’m simultaneously juggling the demands of academic classes, especially the rigorous reading we do in English.
Therefore, if teachers were to suggest that us teenagers “aren’t reading” in a general sense, I would beg to differ. I feel like we read a lot–but for school.
For example, in Contemporary Literature, we’ve read two books during the school. At lightning speed, we’ve prepped for and taken dozens of reading quizzes, in addition to analyzing the books’ plots and characters daily in class. The cycle of reading and analyzing continues with every unit, and it feels like I can’t catch a break–so how could I possibly find the time to read a book for myself?
My definition of reading for pleasure includes obsessing over the book. I spend my waking moments daydreaming about the characters and pondering the conflict.
Thus, if I were to read two books at the same time–one for myself and one for school–I’d be torn about which one to read more and pay more attention to. It’s a question of duty vs. desire: The student in me says “read the book for class”, but as a person, shouldn’t I put myself first? The book I chose for myself actually caters to my personal interests as opposed to an English curriculum, and that’s the problem.
I understand that the books we read for school explore important themes and topics, but there’s also value in leisure reading. It’s a hobby that educates us about the things we like, so why can’t we be given more freedom to indulge in it?
I ask myself this when I think about reading another fantasy book because a part of me sobs at the fact that leisure reading no longer fits in my life.
As a result, when teachers say teenagers aren’t reading, I take it a little personally.
