Are your middle and high schoolers required to read books?
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Anonymous
Um this isn’t an AP vs IB discussion. I said nothing about IB. But on the college forum in DCUM and elsewhere, it’s been pointed out that some AP classes are geared towards passing the exam vs. in depth studies. If you can’t afford private school, you (general you) are relying mostly on AP courses for academic rigor. |
Anonymous
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I’m a professor and saw this article posted in an academia social media group that I’m in. It makes me sad. I don’t assign novels in my field, though my students do have to read and understand a lot of peer reviewed scientific journal articles. I have to spend at least one class period going over how to read and take notes on journal articles, as some students don’t know how to do it even in upper level courses. For some this is review, but others seem not to have any clue until they get to my class. I find the students are getting increasingly overwhelmed by even moderate amounts of assigned reading and writing, even in senior level courses that are electives they’re taking due to a high level of interest. I’m not sure too many of them are going to fare well in grad school if they can get in.
I went to a Catholic HS and took AP English my senior year. I remember getting a reading list of like 10 novels that I had to read that summer before the year even started. Was that unique to my school? The teacher was tough but I learned so much from that class. |
Anonymous
Sorry, but my kids read most of those in FCPS. |
Anonymous
Your experience is disappearing. Many teachers (or their schools/districts) have banned summer reading and many do not assign ANY homework (this is true whether you are talking about AP or IB), so kids read during class. And of course this really limits the amount of reading they can do. This is a misguided type of compassion that is ultimately terrible for everyone, but especially low income or English learning students. |
Anonymous
| Their experience isn't disappearing in private schools. Every kid I know in private school has summer reading starting in mid ES and continuing through HS. They aren't reading novels in class. They are assigned reading for homework so they come to class prepared to discuss it. |
Anonymous
+1 Mine did as well. |
Anonymous
| My kids at FCPS HS read a good number of books, plays, etc. in 9th. No summer reading list though. At our HS, most 9th graders start with the Odyssey, move on to Shakespeare (R&J, Hamlet), and often Frankenstein, some dystopian novel, some Kurt Vonnagen, etc. How deep a dive they do in the analysis of these text depends on the class, teacher, and the engagement of the cohort. Kids who don't do the reading lead to disenchanted teachers who can't drum up a meaningful class discussion, and eventually they give up until the next unit. |
Anonymous
The beginning of the year sounds like my FCPS 9th in the 90s. Our dystopian novel was Lord of the Flies and I don't remember any Vonnegut. |
Anonymous
| Vonnegut isn’t really essential reading for any trade. |
Anonymous
| The comment about IB is funny bc I have an honors student at an FCPS IB, and there were no novels read as a whole class to my knowledge. I could be wrong. |
Anonymous
| This is PP, reference IB MYP only. |
Anonymous
This is a public school forum… |
Anonymous
When people make comments like this, it would be helpful to know if/when your child graduated. |
Anonymous
2022, 2023, and one currently a freshman in HS. |
Anonymous
| This is depressing for our society and the future of mankind. We are becoming obese and illiterate people with zero attention span. How are we going to survive?! I’m serious. |