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I'm sorry, I have to have another rant about school - please feel free to ignore (it's ridiculously long).

143 replies

marthamoo · 07/11/2005 22:11

Ds1 is in Year 4 (I am so mad....) He loves reading, reads anything, everything, has read Harry Potter, lots of quite difficult books etc. (I am bl*dyseething....) I love that he loves reading, I consider it one of my prime roles as a parent to instil in him a love of books - it's a gift for life (I hate that bl**dy school...)
OK, deep breath...phooooooooooooo.
The reading books he gets from school are a) too easy b) exceedingly dull. This galls me a little but as he has a diet of the good stuff at home I haven't worried about it too much. Since he started in Year 4 he has been bringing home a series of books called Boys Rule here (have just seen that they are for "less able" or "reluctant" readers....BOOOOM! - that was my head exploding) They are crap, anyway. They are aimed squarely at boys. He finished those and now he is reading the "Girls Rock!" series (see link, left hand side). These - surprisingly enough - are aimed at girls. So far we have had sneaky brothers reading diaries, lost ankle bracelets...
Tonight, he brought home "Girls Rock! School Play Stars" and, in among such gems of literature as

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frogs · 07/11/2005 22:46

Binkie, you are so elegantly tactful! I think that is a masterpiece.

But worth checking what the arrangements are for doling out the reading books. We've had variations on

Book selected by teacher
Book selected by teaching assistant/random parent/playground supervisor, obviously all with variable results
Books chosen by child from completely inadequate range in classroom
Book chosen by child according to inappropriate 'levelling' to which child has been assigned by TA who would need annotated diagram to find various parts of her anatomy
Book chosen by child from full library range

The latter is obviously the best for a fluent reader, but to get there we had to make sundry representations to teacher/deputy head to get dd1 (then in Y4) classed as officially off the top of any reading level, and therefore allowed to exercise her own judgement in choice of book. Before that Harry Potter was officially classed as too difficult (white level) despite the fact that dd1 was reading Lord of the Rings at home. Barmy.

Having said that, child's own choices can sometimes be a bit eyebrow-raising. Dd1 went through a phase of choosing Captain Underpants (particular hate of mine), and appallingly horrible books by Robert Swindells, which IMO are completely unsuitable content-wise for primary-age kids. But having made such a monster fuss for her to get free access, I could then hardly complain about content.

Of course what you want is a wise, book-loving dedicated librarian-teacher, who actually reads children's books, chooses them specifically for all the groups that use the library, and gently guides children to extend their choices, in some cases across the adult-child divide (Frost in May, anyone? I capture the Castle? etc etc.)

But it won't happen.

I think all you can do is make as much fuss as your relationship with the school will take. Or take matters into your own hands: ds (Y2) is a fluent reader, one of at least 10 in his class, but having weedy little banana books imposed on him by one of the playground supervisors who has been charged with changing Y2 books (wtf?). In the end I took action, lobbied other likely parents in the class to hand over their spares, raided my own selection of spares and 2nd hand books and put together a box of 'proper' books for that age group (HP, Dick King-Smith, Flat Stanley, Horrid Henry etc etc.).

Teacher now loves me to bits, as she wasn't at all happy with the existing arrangement, but had no means to change it.

marthamoo · 07/11/2005 22:51

frogs, you are marvellous and make me laugh (I don't like Captain Underpants either but ds1 finds them hysterical - I won't mention that when I go in, I think it undermines my argument ) I look at him with his nose stuck in Charlotte's Web, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or (so shoot me) The Famous Five then I see these books about urine stained pineapples...and I go into full Mummy meltdown.

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3princesses · 07/11/2005 22:52

When and more importantly why did schools become such a dumping ground for crappy faux-literature for children? God alone knows, you only have to look at some of the threads there've been here recently to know that what you read when you're growing up is profoundly important, and can have an almost magical effect.

One of my issues is with the stupid bookclub things they send out, trying to get us to buy stuff so they get free books. And I say 'stuff' because there is hardly a book there amongst all the Nail Art sets and TV tie-in colouring books and other rubbish. Are those also the kind of books they get free when we buy from them? If so it's no wonder the school library is filled with rubbish.

We need a Jamie Oliver equivalent to tackle literature in schools next.

Stilltrue · 07/11/2005 22:52

They sound dreadful; no literary merit and deeply depressing story lines. Your poor ds. go and see the head !

tamum · 07/11/2005 22:55

(can't help having a quick snurk at the thought of you going in and demanding that your ds is allowed to choose quality reading material like Captain Underpants )

marthamoo · 07/11/2005 22:57

I shall go in with Tolstoy in one hand and Dickens in the other (why does that sound vaguely sexual?)

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binkie · 07/11/2005 23:04

Yes, on reflection I agree there is a place for having a polite fact-finding discussion before the cannon come out - it may well be the teacher is a bit stuck for what to do and welcomes your thoughts. Let us know!!

SueW · 07/11/2005 23:05

We - and school - let DD (Y4) choose her own reading books. Sometimes I raise my eyebrows at what she brings home from school but they are her free choice from a library where she has a very wide range to choose from.

Her shcool also has a reading scheme to encourage them to read selected Classics and they can work towards Bookworm badge - colour for 5 books read and teahcer questions answered; gold for 10. DD could cruise this but she still chooses to meander among some of the most dire books IMO.

I would check whose doing the choosing and what they have to choose from before I went in guns blazing.

marthamoo · 07/11/2005 23:07

Oh my guns don't blaze - I am pleasantness personified. I've been on the receiving end of guns blazing and it doesn't incline you to helpfulness.

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marthamoo · 07/11/2005 23:08

If I had a gun it would be one of those with a little flag that pops out and it says "BANG!" on it

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HRHQoQ · 07/11/2005 23:12

my first thoughts are........those books are aimed at people with a reading level of about 7 or 8yrs old.....haven't read Harry Potter (and I won't - but that's another thread ) but from what I know of them they're much higher than that age level of reading! Definitely complain

HRHQoQ · 07/11/2005 23:16

PMLS - I read Martha's comment about being vaguely sexual - and then read binkies comment

"So there is a return compliment"

as so there is a rectum compliment

hunkermunker · 07/11/2005 23:17

Think I'll start writing children's fiction, Moo, if that's all there is to it. But I'd feel like Jo March in Little Women - too many scruples to write such shite!

Would definitely complain - what knobby books!

edam · 07/11/2005 23:20

Oh, I feel for you Moo, that must be so frustrating. Is this really what I've got to look forward to? Have horrid memories of being forced to read all my primary school's stupid reading scheme before I could get my hands on anything vaguely interesting from the school library - one stupid Western adventure story lives with me to this day (for a 7yo girl, ffs).

marthamoo · 07/11/2005 23:21

I am going to cherry pick this advice - "Oi Miss, these books are knobby and shite" may not win her over methinks.

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hunkermunker · 07/11/2005 23:22

Oh, I don't know... Ask her what she thinks of them

marthamoo · 07/11/2005 23:22

Edam, dh actually took the book off me because I was getting so angry when I was telling him about it he thought I might rip it up. And I think books are sacred!

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edam · 07/11/2005 23:28

Not suprised, I'd be tempted too and I agree with you about sanctity of the written word. That's why crappy books are so infuriating; I don't mean all books have to aspire to the condition of literature, just that people who make money by writing careless drivel of the sort your son is being force-fed deserve a slow, painful death. Like all those clever, well-educated people who make spiteful, exploitative, cheap TV programmes they would never dream of watching themselves.

marthamoo · 07/11/2005 23:32

The author is called Julie Mullins and she has a wholesome toothy grinningness about her that reminds me of Sarah Jane from Tikkabilla. I would dislike her on sight, even if she hadn't written the knobby shite.

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LadySherlockofLGJ · 07/11/2005 23:35

We love books in this house, and those books do not even sound like Mills and Boons of the junior literary world., More like, what is that dreadful snoozepaper ??? Sporting Sunday or Sunday Sport, well something like that.

I was a precocious reader and I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, at 12 !!!!

I very much doubt that I would have attained that level, if I had had to read about urine stained pineapples.

How did I get there at 12 ??? via Enid Blyton of course.

LadySherlockofLGJ · 07/11/2005 23:37

BTW, I read it again at 18 and I had not missed out a single thing.

I had worried that I had speed read it at 12 IYKWIM.

marthamoo · 07/11/2005 23:41

I think you've killed my thread with Solzhenitsyn (I had to C&P that)

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LadySherlockofLGJ · 07/11/2005 23:47

Here lie the bones of a reading thread

LG posted now its dead.

A ongoing post it won't be.

It died trying RIP

marthamoo · 07/11/2005 23:48

Oh now you're just showing off

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LadySherlockofLGJ · 07/11/2005 23:50

That's as maybe but I am sitting here LOL ing at my own wit.