Mandatory Reading: How Students see it

Students would rather read a book they actually want to read other than being forced to read a book they don’t want to read.

Every year, students have to read a book in their English class; it is mandatory for every student to read the book their teacher lends them.

“Their boring.” says junior, Christopher Wills; referring to the books given to read in school. Like Wills, many students see most books they read in school as “boring” books. According to many students, some “boring” books would be The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Animal Farm and plays by Shakespeare.

“Some books like The Scarlet Letter and Shakespeare books are hard. I didn’t get them that much.” says junior, Jane B. “Their unnecessary. I don’t see how Shakespeare is supposed to help me in life. It’s so hard to understand.” says a senior who wishes to remain anonymous.

According to a few students, not all books provided by the School are “boring”; a few kids did like
The Kite Runner and Night.

According to senior, Alex Dosrath, he likes the books he is given to read in school. He finds them interesting. He said “It also depends on the teacher, if the teacher can’t teach it right, you would be lost.”

One student who wishes to remain anonymous said “I don’t read those books, I read spark notes.”

Many students do like to read; they like the books they read in their “spare time.”
A multitude of students said they would like to read books in school that they picked out themselves. "I like books like A Wrinkle in Time and the Harry Potter series," says Corean Saliard. Kwesi Charles agrees and says “I like Harry Potter books too; you read it and finish it in a week.”

“Reading is Fundamental. Everyone needs to read.” says junior, Farhana Zahan. Salma Hoque agrees with Farhana and says “It also helps improve your vocabulary." As many students know, vocabulary will be on the SAT’s and it looks great on the regents. Reading a book they actually want to read is a great way for students to build their vocabulary.

Books that many kids like to read are The Harry Potter series, The Twilight Series, Romantic novels, and Suspense books. A lot of students said they like Science Fiction and fantasies. A few were also fond of fiction.

“I like hood, cool, hot, gangster books.” says junior, Andre Hartley. “Students like to read books they want to read not what their forced to read” says Andre's fellow classmate, Katy Ann Ganpat.

It’s not reading in general that student’s dislike. If they were given the opportunity to choose their own books, many of them said they would not sleep or check their phones while the class is in session. They would actually read. Reading is indeed fundamental and many students do realize that but being forced to read something they don’t want to read seems unjust to many students.