to not force my teenager to read a book a week?

[milafawny]

My 15 year old daughters school have initiated a new reading scheme that states every child must read a book "for pleasure" each week and produce a written report on it for every Monday.

I have a few objections to this.

Firstly, this is not "reading for pleasure", this is enforced reading with follow up home work each week.

The selection of books isn't open, they have to read books provided on the app on their iPad, again, making it not "for pleasure" when they cant select the book.

The smallest book in the selection is 300 pages long. Most are longer. The largest has 1200+ pages. Expecting a book of that size to be finished weekly along with a completed report, on top of GSCE level homework, is a big ask.

Specifically regarding my daughter, she is diagnosed with both dyslexia and ADHD. She has already be informed in school that this scheme is expected of her too. Reading is not, nor has it every been, an activity she does for pleasure. Its takes her time, she gets frustrated and upset when she cant understand or stay focussed. We have tactics in place for when she has to read, usually breaking it into smaller sections but this doesn't allow for reading longer texts, but these tactics are not enough to have her motivated to read a different book every single week. She cannot read something aloud at all. She still find its difficult to focus attention long enough to watch a film. In something she has no interest in, namely reading, she's not even going to manage 5 minutes. I have bought her many many books over the years that are ones she has expressed an interest in - most are non-fiction biology books. Ive tried with books of things she has shown interest in, such as horrible history's that are more factual. None of the selection of books are like this, they are all fictional story based. We have tried harry potter and hunger games as we broke the films down and watched it as you would watch a tv show, i think she managed the first chapter of book 1 of harry potter in a month. She gets no enjoyment from it.

Would IBU to email school and state my daughter is not participating in the scheme, and expect this not to result in a weekly detention due to the reasons i have outlined?

This is an aside but try a pair of after shock bone conduction headphones - they it on you cheeks not your ears. Game changer for me (I use hearing ads)

All of this 👏

I was going to write a long reply, but this covers it beautifully. My very avid reader is joining year 7 next year - and this sounds like just the kind of scheme that would put an end to his 'reading for pleasure.'

Why are schools doing so much damage to kids love of reading? This is a GUARANTEED way to make sure these cohort never read again.

That wouldn’t really solve the problem. I thought I might be being a little unfair quoting the running time for the Count of Monte Cristo so decided to try something more modern. So Catch 22 running time is 16 hours which is 2 hours 40 minutes per night leaving Sunday free to write the review!

Speaking as a lazy dyslexic, I would just get chat gpt to write the report and also give you a few pointers to mention if call upon. Sad to see school are still just as shit with dyslexia 20 years later :/

In general though I remember Matt haigh writing something on insta about how reading can’t be seen as a hobby for fun/relaxation like watching tv is. There always has to be a “message” or a moral conundrum to uncover and dissect to death.

the fact that all the books on the curriculum are so outdated says it all to be honest. Even “modern” literature is over 70 years old now

why can’t they read things like the midnight library or choose a book that’s been shortlisted On the booker prize shortlist for the last ten years? Something that is actually relevant to kids lives and something they actually see other people reading.

even Adrian mile or Bridget jones would get them to see how funny literature can be - and those books are also 20-30 years old! But I remember utterly falling in love with the characters and loving to see how they evolved and developed and interacted with changes in their lives

I wouldn’t worry too much OP. This policy is going to last exactly one week. When 90% of the year group either haven’t finished reading their first book or turn is obvious chat GPT book reports then the English department with change the task.

You can fight terrible policy with simple arithmetic, something pp have helpfully eluded to and seems the policy makers at your child's school are woefully bad at.

The average 16 year old probably reads at a rate of 250 words per minute. Assuming the minimum 300 page book has around 300 words per page, it would take them 6 hours to read one book, add another hour for the planning and writing of the report makes 7 hours. An hour per day on top of their homework is quite a challenge but I suppose not disastrous. However that's the MINIMUM length of reading they'd get away with and assuming normal reading speed.

I would time her reading speed over say 2-5 pages and propose a new adjusted target for her so she's not spending more time than her peers on this daft task.

What an absolute load of rubbish! Lemme guess...New headteacher? Fancy new trust initiative? Or fresh off/anticipating a visit from Ofsted soon? I can guarantee you, nobody will actually be marking these book reports. They'll be waved in the air every Monday in form and not given a second glance.

I'd be tempted to do the reading, but at your child's pace...like a chapter a week or so. Then write a report about each chapter. I guarantee you nobody will even notice.

Make an appointment with the head of year or head teacher and explain this isn't going to happen. It's outrageous! One book a term yes, but one a week just ridiculous.

If reading in this style is for pure pleasure then stands to reason that the head of English should lead by example and also read one of those books a week….

not possible because if the workload and outside interests? Well why should the kids be expected to do it then.

If she wears hearing aids do they have Bluetooth as my dd ones do so she can listen to audio books/music on her phone via Bluetooth- totally changed her life getting the Bluetooth aids.

Re a book a week I love reading and read every day but often takes me over a week to read a book so a slow reader (without any SENCo) would struggle I'm sure to do this.

I think though you need to approach this constructively with school explain why it's not possible but what adjustments would at least mean your dd can try. This might be audio, longer, picking own book, writing a weekly report on what have managed to read that week ( and it been a simple report).

It's not just China - the Indian maths curriculum leaves ours for dust too.

@milafawny

I agree I have two dc with vast ends of the reading scale.
My 15 has been sensational this year with reading.
She's read Anna karenia and guy de maupasasnt, loads of Russian novels.
F Scott Fitzgerald, Andre gide but she don't touch English with a barge pole.
I kept that reading flame alive during primary school by having to lie about her reading the book scheme etc.
Her English teachers praise her to the high heavens and she's on course for 8 or 9.

It's so incredibly ignorant of the school tyring to put this saddle on a Swan.

We all know the amazing benefit of reading but some dc cannot do it.
It's a different experience for them.

Why would we try to emulate China or India? Totally different culture.

Plus I'm a lawyer, I work with words - why would I need to do endless maths as a kid, what benefit would that be now? Most jobs do not require complex maths, and even ones that do require maths don't need that much drilling in it.

That would have just made me drop out of school. Schools needs to be kind, smaller and much individual not some kind of dystopian learning factory churning out a production line of maths drones. You may as well just manufacture automatons because humans have failings.

My other dd struggles to read and km dreading trying to get her to read the books she needs for English, that will be the volume she can cope with.

Id rather she read a few like that well than forced to read stuff she struggles with.

Instead of forcing dc like this to read why not get creative about it and maybe get them to act things out or watch films of it and stop the film to talk about dialogue.

@shearwater.. I agree, unfortunately comprehensive are like this in many places, large overwhelming one size fits all exam production line.

Not at all! It is not for pleasure if it is forced. Secondly, forcing them then to write a report about it, makes it even less pleasurable.

Asking them to read every day feels fair, but to say it must be a book a week is not in my opinion!

@CecilyP my dd read that this summer along with some other mammoth books and she won't touch English for dust.

Honestly, despite being entirely personally unaffected, I’m angry at the sheer stupidity of this.

That is a staggering amount of work for even the most academic, NT students.

Replace novels with short stories and maybe it’s a beneficial program. Having 15/16 year olds read and write a report on the Count of Monte Cristo, Crime and Punishment or whatever else in a week, each week, is absolutely absurd. All but guaranteed to kill any child’s enjoyment of reading, too.

The response to the OP re her daughter’s particular situation is mind blowing in its ignorance - and what on Earth is this ‘sentence’ even meant to mean? “The minimum reading age of 16 years required for GCSE subjects' literacy demands.”

I hope parents and students don’t stand for it.

The Count of Monte Cristo is also between 800-2000 pages (depending on which format you buy). Given that the average reader can read around 40 pages an hour, although may be more or less, it would mean 20-50 hours to read, not including the time to write a report.

The whole reading scheme sounds totally unrealistic and very poorly thought out. It is a way to suck all pleasure out of reading. What "pleasure" is there when you cannot even choose your own books. I read a lot, sometimes thousands of pages a week, I dislike most fantasy and bloody hate Hobbits after being forced to read it in year 6. ... and don't get me started on Great Expectations

Op have a look at howlongtoread.com/ howlongtoread.com/]] it shows you hoe long it takes to read a book if you have a reading speed of 300 wpm. There is also a link to a reading speed test. Get your dd to take this speed test and then use this with the school.

As a mother of 2 dyslexic children myself idiotic ideas like this enrages me. It doesn't teach our children to read for pleasue it teaches them to loathe reading and makes them feel stupid. This is then carried with them into their adult lives.. grrrrr

Agreeing with you here and using the how to
Long to read app it says

The average reader, reading at a speed of 300 WPM, would take 1 day, 2 hours, and 16 minutes to read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

Considering the suggestion of the school is 45 mins a day that is not possible within a week.

OP... give. Your comments about the hearing aids, they are clearly not dealing with your child's SEN properly.

I would therefore first write to the Head, explaining the two issues and requesting that the hearing aid adjustments are out j to place this week, and for them to conform that dd is exempt from the reading scheme give her disabilities. I'd also ask that they confirm that the exam office is aware if her disabilities and that they have made the required applications for adjustments in exams. ... these adjustments need to happen now otherwise she will not get them for exams as they are not then 'usual way of working'.

If you do not get an adequate response then write to the SEND Governor - yes every school is required to have one - and seek their help. I would be horrified (but pote tially not surprised) to hear your daughters story... but I would be making damn sure that ALL her issues were dealt with ASAP. We are generally a good bunch in the SEND Governor camp!

Another tack to try with that English teacher is to have your daughter open the app for the allotted 45 mins, occasionally scroll the screen so that the thing clock's the time in a manner realistic to HER reading speed. Then for the report she writes simply- I read pages 1 - 3 of x book. That will almost certainly invoke a response after the first week. I would not be agreeing to any detentions for this and would be making that clear.

I’m assuming Catch 22 which was a massive bestseller in the 70s?