Reading is fundamental

QuarterToTen

Apparently no one or nothing is immune from criticism.
The boy should be celebrated, not chastised.

This world gets crazier every day.

http://poststar.com/news/local/libraria ... 963f4.html

hedonist

As children, my sister and I were encouraged to read, and LOVED it. It spurred imagination, discussions, internal questions...and some answers. We also savored the read and tried where we could to absorb it, and not just suck it in.

The flavor is lost, otherwise...usually.

And never did the concept of a related reward enter into it.

This whole either/or thing - either one will do whatever it takes to be a winner (legitimately or not), or everyone is a winner.

How about this kid is just left to be, and continues to enjoy reading?

backseatLover12

hedonist wrote:

How about this kid is just left to be, and continues to enjoy reading?

That's what I was thinking. Take the "contest" away, and would he continue to read on average as he did for the contest? Isn't that what it's about?

Either way, I think the librarian is not cool, for pitching a fit about it.

Last-12-Exit

no reason to end the contest or change the rules. let the boy have his 2-5 year run at the damn library and then move on to the next generation of kids.

my daughter's middle school had a similar "contest." she finished second to another boy for 3 years. she never could beat him. that didn't stop her from wanting to read more.

brianlux

"Gandron further told the reporter she planned to change the rules of the contest so that instead of giving prizes to the children who read the most books, she would draw names out of a hat and declare winners that way."

This seems kind of dumb. If it's a contest, the winner should be the winner.

But I would argue there are better ways to encourage reading besides seeing who can grind through the most books in a certain period of time. When I was in 5th grade our teacher gave us mimeographed* maps of the world. Each time we read a book we put a silver star on the map where the book took place (or along the top if the book didn't specify place). After we read a certain number we got to move up to gold stars. This was self-motivating. I remember enjoying watching my map fill up more so than worrying about who had a more filled map than mine plus it was interesting to think about where the book took place. The student with the most stars got some little award but for the most part each of us focused more on our own progress.

*Mimeograph: An ancient technique of page reproduction created by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper.