Hooked on Phonics
Should I get one of those games guaranteed to improve reading that we see advertised on TV? My child doesn’t read well and I know that reading is terribly important otherwise there wouldn’t be all those PSA messages featuring television stars telling us how important it is to read.
Signed,
Only Had to Look Up Three Words to Write this Letter
Dear Still Moving Your Lips:
No matter what a sincere sitcom star says during a thirty second PSA what they are really thinking is; don’t read, watch my show.
In this country reading books is Miss Behaved. But the attitude about reading is even more Miss Behaved than the act. The Miss Behaved prediction is that even if you purchase reading aids, games, and tapes and even if you actually play the games, listen to the tapes, and use the reading aids, it still won’t turn your child into a devoted reader. Because even if the child develops skills, there is no place in this county in which to practice them.
A favorite activity in our country is to lament over the dearth of reading skills in America. Important papers covered with words are issued in Washington but no one actually reads them. One Senator asked an aid to read a report on reading. The intern not only refused, but sued for a better assignment because the reading assignment certainly wouldn’t garner any press coverage as someone reading is a "static "shot and camera operators are looking for "action".
Still, confused parents are offered reason after reason of why a child should read. Newspapers and magazines periodically report that reading is down; we’re all going to perish. Schools send home flyers giving parents five or so easy steps to start a child on the yellow brick road to facile reading; if reading increases, so do test scores and state grants.
And parents respond. They haven’t personally experienced any o f the supposed benefits themselves, but they work hard on points one to four in the reading pamphlet, forgetting about point five because by then it’s time for the family’s favorite show on TV.
So rest assured that even though you receive pamphlets and flyers and see startling headlines containing the word "read" and "books" and "amazon", no one really means it.
What Miss Behaved comment do we make to the child happily reading on the deck on a summer day? Get into the pool. What do we say to the spouse reading a book? Help with the housework/ children/dishes.
As a nation we condone reading only in the context of "beach reading" or "summer reading" as if the only acceptable use for a book is as filler for the time between scuba diving and wind surfing. We don’t’ read a book while standing in line for the bank, that wouldn’t be social. We are not encouraged to spend an afternoon sitting in the garden reading a book that would be ignoring the family. Over the years we (the collective we, not necessarily the Miss Behaved we) have defined relaxation as sitting and watching, not sitting and reading. We watch TV, we watch live sports or concerts or entertainment, or boy bands on tour. For Americans, a good time is equated with moving, even if it’s only inching forward in a line made by Disney.
Do we honor anyone who wants to spend the afternoon with a book? No. We cajole them to join us in line at the amusement park.
Tangible evidence of true indifference towards reading and books manifested in one of the most Miss Behaved propositions to decimate California, Proposition 13. This measure, fabulously short sighted and selfish, slashed and burned through every library in the state; cutting hours, cutting supplies and cutting down any hopes of encouraging the next generation of librarians (a group that in film, need to leave the library in order to have a life) to take on the job.
No one noticed. In fact the only time in the last two decades the library was brought to the public’s attention was on January 12, 1999 when three children were caught down loading porn from the Internet. The incident made the national news. Many people bought the paper for the first time, attracted by the headline containing the word pornography. That there was an enterprising child immersed in the Wife of Bath’s Tale remained unnoticed because the grown-ups in charge had no idea what the child was reading or why they should care.
In fact the only time the library is invoked is when a college student is prevaricating as to the where abouts of his roommate to the parents. "He’s at the library" is the common excuse. The boy in question is, of course, not at the library, nor is he reading.
American’s place great importance on being well rounded. (No, today we won’t explore the obvious part of that statement). A successful child belongs to social clubs, sports teams and attends many events. Americans come from a tradition of helping, cooperating and socializing. Solitude, one of the requirements for a good read, is viewed as tremendously suspicious. Often the FBI gets involved.
Which is why if you are a very Miss Behaved child, the thing to do is increase your reading skills because no one will ever know what the hell you’re doing. You can pull out any book, say, Anaïs Nin’s Little Birds and when asked, reply guilelessly that it’s about ornithology. No grown up will stop you. What they will say is, "Reading huh? You should go outside and get some fresh air."
There are platitudes galore on the importance of reading but no where in our days and in our weeks do we make time and a quiet place to do the actual reading. One Miss Behaved child lamented that he would definitely read more if only it didn’t severely cut into his computer time.
So, dear reader, you don’t really need to waste your time encouraging your child to read. She can attend movies, listen to books on tape, surf the net, and ask friends for important information. Isn’t the most comfortable furniture in your house placed directly in front of the TV?
Why are we so surprised that our children don’t read?