HG

The way school has taught me to read has greatly affected my reading habits at home. Learning to analyze literature made reading less enjoyable for me because sometimes I would not be able to concentrate on a book’s plot, which is usually the part I enjoy most, because I would be too busy trying to find the “deeper meaning” behind the story. Also some of the books I have read in school, especially the ones that are considered “real literature,” such as The Old Man and the Sea and The Iliad, I have really disliked. This has discouraged me from reading “real literature” at home. When I began to have English classes where I was required to read nine or ten books a year, reading sometimes felt like more of a burden than a pleasure. So, when I had free time, the last thing I’d want to do is read. It was also sometimes hard for me to enjoy a book when I was forced to read it in a certain amount of time. I think that reading should be something done at the reader’s own pace in order to make the experience enjoyable. For example, every time a new Harry Potter book came out I would read all 700 or 800 some pages in a matter of days and I would thoroughly enjoy it. On the other hand, it was a painful experience when I had to read less than 200 pages in The Red Scarf Girl in a week or even to read the final 5 pages of The Old Man and the Sea in an hour.

RP

Overall the way I read in school doesn’t affect the way I read outside of school. There is a separation in my mind between books that I read for leisure and books that I read for work. While reading a book for school I am constantly analyzing the book and focusing on the little details, especially if I know I will be tested on the reading. When reading a book outside of school, I am able to take my time and appreciate the overall story. I find it is more relaxing and beneficial to read when I know there won’t be a test. I treat the books for school, even when I enjoy them, as work. I can’t completely immerse myself in the reading because in the back of my mind I know I will either have to take a test or write an essay on what I’ve read. This type of reading encourages me to search for symbols and themes that I may have otherwise skipped over. Sometimes I am able to understand the book more by reading it more carefully, but that type of reading is never truly enjoyable to me, nor relaxing. When I get to read for leisure I can relax and focus on the overall meaning of the book and I can truly absorb myself in the book. I rarely search for themes and symbols while reading books outside of school. It becomes more of an activity instead of work. Since there is a separation for me between reading for fun and reading for leisure the reading that I have done for school hasn’t hindered nor developed my love for reading.

IL

THE GRADING SYSTEM
I already wrote about the phenomenon of losing a love for reading outside school. So now I will write about the grading system at LM, and what could be changed, and what must be changed…

LM has one of the more unique (unique is a euphemism) weighting systems for any school that I have ever encountered. LM, as many of us know, weights its quarters as 20% of the final grade, and then the midterm and final count for the remaining 20% combined. In many other schools in the area (particularly private schools), midterms and finals factor in the weight of the final grade much more. Don’t quote me on this, but at Shipley, their midterms and finals are factored into their first and second semester grades respectively, and count for 25% of that grade. 25% of an entire semester’s work. I’m not saying that LM should weight our midterms and finals in such an extreme manner, as I and many other students love that we can fail a final and it will often not affect our final grade for a class.
I bring up the disparity between LM and other schools in the area as more of a question than a proposal: should LM weight its exams more? I am truly unsure of this answer. The highly unpopular opinion is that exams should weigh more that 9% or 11% of a final grade; after all, the exam is supposed to measure “retention” of knowledge from the course throughout the year.
Then again, when after high school and college will we be tested on our retention of a year’s worth of knowledge? Very rarely. For example, once acquiring a driver’s license, you do not have to go back to the DMV and re-test when your license expires; it is an assumption that you still know enough about driving to maintain your license.
So practically, midterm and final exams are unrealistic representations of testing outside the school. They do, however, promote good studying techniques (as long as you are aiming to achieve a high grade on the test). This is where I run into my issue, or my contradiction; I do see that midterms and finals are slightly unrealistic and unnecessary, and therefore shouldn’t be weighted any more than they already are, but they do promote good study habits, and these study habits would be put into more practice with more incentive to do well on the exams.
What about quarter grades? A 91% is not the same as an 83%. To acquire a 91, you must put in much more work and effort than to acquire an 83. At LM, we call both these grades “B”s and group them in the same category. They carry the same weight. This should not be.
PROBLEMS WITH THE GRADING SYSTEM
1. 91% counts the same as 83% → unfair, should we change it?
a. Do we move to system solely based on percentage?
2. No incentive do study or do well on a final exam.
3. Discrimination in the grading system→it’s hard to propose a surefire solution when some people will be adversely affected by any solution.
a. Do we change our points system? Do we radically depart from anything any of us know as grades?
4. Pressure to achieve an A. I understand this is a societal stigma that isn’t easy to suppress, but if an A was not held at the ridiculous esteem that it is, than we as students could strive to do “well” in a class, whether that meant getting a low A or a high C. This involves pressure from college and parents and administrators and teachers and probably goes outside the realm of grading systems…

LK

I love to read and I have always loved to read. I learned to read at an early age and, according to my parents, I haven’t put down a book since. My insatiable appetite for literature cannot be satisfied. For me, investing myself (and my time) in a book is one of the most rewarding experiences I can have. I consider every book I read an adventure. I am able to escape reality and dive into a different world whether it be to Hogwarts or Gatsby’s East Egg or Holden Caulfield’s New York City. Not only do I find pleasure in reading but also, I am able to see the benefits I have accrued, thanks to the hundreds of books that have come my way. My vocabulary has expanded immensely as has my knowledge on a wide (and random) range of topics.
Unfortunately, I believe that the English curriculum in Lower Merion has not accomplished what it set forth to do. It kills the desire to read in many students due to inane class discussion and over analyzing “themes, symbols, and motifs.” We have learned to robotically produce a 5-paragraph essay with a 3-part thesis. Books read in school become dull and unexciting, thus we lose the message the author intended. Despite all of this, I still love to read. I consider myself extremely lucky that my love for reading has not been destroyed.

EG

Reading for Class vs. Pleasure

Reading for class and for pleasure have entirely different impact on
the reader, and each has its own advantages.

Advantages of reading for a class:
Assigned reading encourages to explore an area outside of his favorite
genre. This gives him a broader and more meaningful perspective on
life. He may even discover a new hobby or a style of writing that he
would normally not stumble upon when choosing a book.
Class discussions are often part of the assignment. Verbal exchanges
help to develop students' abilities to accurately transform specific
thoughts/feelings into words. During these exchanges, students also
share their unique experiences and how they affects their
perspectives. By considering these perspectives, students obtain an
unbiased view on a subject. This skill helps students to analyze a
situation more deeply and multilaterally.
A teacher helps to guide the students by teaching them how the words
form accurate expressions to convey certain thoughts. Instead of
merely reading just to get a feel for the book, students will learn
(from the teacher) how and why they feel a certain way. This focuses
on the students' writing skills.

Advantages of reading for pleasure:
The reader can choose a book of his favorite genre, therefore
developing further/advanced skills in that hobby or possible career
(for me, chess). Through reading for pleasure, one may even develop a
love of reading in general. During these sessions, his
intellectual/analytical half of the brain is turned off, and the
reader is fully immersed into the words on the page, using all five
senses to explore. This is an alternative from the typical learning
in the classroom from the blackboard, and gives a chance for students
to apply the knowledge they have gained from the blackboard to real
life. Analogy: an APES field trip to a park to witness the reality of
what we're learning.

RM

The effect of high school English courses on how I read literature:

    - The manner in which I have been taught to read literature in school has served to ruin many books for me.
- Over analyzing characters and their motives, plots, themes, and an author’s intentions detracts from the joy inherent in reading a good book
- Reading slower do to constantly searching for certain devices, such as foreshadowing, as well as attempting to identify themes, metaphors, and symbolism, makes reading a book far less fluid and less enjoyable.
- Because of the focus given to the above pieces of a book (theme, metaphors, etc.) less time is devoted to the plot of the literature which, in my opinion, the best part.
    - Despite what how I have been taught to read literature in school, I am able to ignore this type of highly analytical reading outside of a school setting and enjoy reading far more than I would be able to in school.
    - The Lord of the Flies and Catcher in the Rye stand out as two particular cases of books which I would have otherwise have enjoyed reading being made unbearable by the analytical style of in-school reading.  The main issue with these particular books was the amount of time and effort devoted to “unraveling” the character’s and their motives.  Often time a whole period could be spent stating the obvious facts of a character’s intentions, wasting time and adding no extra meaning to the book.  On the rare occasion that I did have some type of revelation regarding the characters, what came of it was often unimportant, as far as I was concerned, to the meaning of the book.

HGM

As a young lass, I always found reading incredibly interesting. The first few books I read were the "Magic Treehouse" ones, where I could imagine myself participating in the grand adventures the characters undertook. When I started first grade, I thought that my love of reading and desire to read would diminish as I found my day filled up with "Bunny Books", simple equations, and recess. In fact, the exact opposite happened. Whenever I finished my in-class work, I would crack open the latest in a seemingly never-ending series of kiddie literature. As I moved up through that elementary school system, I couldn't count on two hands the number of times in a week my teachers would ask me to, please, just this once, take that book out from under my desk. Sometimes I listened. Looking back, it seemed that I was being a rather insolent youngster, but nevertheless I am somewhat glad that I refused to put those books down- had I done so, I imagine it would have been quite difficult to pick them back up. The French teacher in particular had a knack for noticing when I had a book under my desk. Sometimes she would ask me to put it away, other times just sigh and move on. I always felt bad, but never stopped. In retrospect, I should not have put my teachers in such situations. I never meant to implicate any others in my "wrongdoings". My parents and teachers (when I wasn't disrupting their classes) always fostered my love of reading, heaping praise upon me whenever I completed a relatively difficult book. Because I was so engrossed in reading, it never struck me look at a story beneath the surface. Upon entering middle and high school, I was suddenly expected to look for themes, static characters, allegories. I had never done anything like that before, almost always taking the stories I read at face value. And while this analysis certainly added to my understanding of a story, it also took something away from it. It's difficult to articulate, but something is lost when you read a book in school and examine every fiber of its being- suddenly, your interpretations are wrong, your understanding doesn't have quite enough depth to it, and you spend weeks or months on a single story. This method has ruined many the book for me. After deconstructing every last sentence of a book, it can be difficult to put it back together. That's probably why I read so much out of school. Because when I read a book that I've chosen, I'm responsible only to myself to understand and interpret it. And sometimes, that may leave me short of below-the-surface details, but I'm okay with that. And this is not to say that I despise reading and analyzing books in school, because that is simply not the case. I enjoy other people's input and ideas, and I don't mind analyzing certain aspects of a story. When a class tends towards the over-analytical, though, it can often ruin the usually wonderful experience of reading a book. When a chapter is split into hundreds of different sentence fragments, it can be tough to look beyond the diction and syntax. Most of the time, a book is better than the sum of its parts. And sometimes English classes tend to neglect the sum of the parts.