Blog Post 6: Readicide

I think that there are some works that are not only popular, but also great. Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951, 61 years ago, and is still popular today. While it is a book taught in English III, it’s been published multiple times and shows how a teenager’s life is, but Catcher is a little more extreme. Plus, at one point, the book was on the censored list, which would make me want to read it even more to see what all the fuss is about. J If schools want to make reading more enjoyable for everyone, I think they should let students read at their own pace and stop putting page limits on what you want to read each night. For some kids, it’s easy to read 30 pages each night, while for others, they may not be able to read that many pages. It’s high school, people should be able to read as many pages as they want to in the night. Teachers should just say “Make sure the book is finished by this date and you’ll have a test on it the next day.” High schoolers know they have some days that are busier than others. They could read more on a night they aren’t busy so that way they don’t fall too far behind if they have a busy day of the week. I think that there are times when students should be able to choose what books they want to read from a list that would fit into whatever period of English literature is being studied (Puritans, Rationalists, Transcendalists, etc.). If the student gets to choose the book, they may be more excited about reading the book than being forced into reading The Great Gatsby or The Crucible. People enjoy reading more when they get to pick what they want to read.