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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Does it matter if DC have already read schools set texts?

94 replies

LynetteScavo · 11/12/2011 19:06

DS1 (Y8) is an avid reader, and pretty much reads anything I throw at him.

I've realised that he has already read most of the books they are covering/going to cover in English. Does it matter?

Should I try to avoid books which will be covered in class to make him work a bit harder? He does the bare minimum and ends up with decent grades as it is, but I don't think that can continue for ever.

Or is it a good thing that he's already read the books?

OP posts:

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:32

Which they will never get if they don't get chance to exercise their own judgement.

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:33

Sorry-I meant to say from a young age.

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 17:34

I suspect your family values are different from mine, Seeker.

I'll stick with mine, thanks.

Children are not small versions of adults. They actually do need raising and guidance.

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:35

I may have missed the point but I thought that was exactly what seeker was saying.

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 17:36

That's not what I inferred from her posts. Free reign of the library is not offering guidance, and it is weird to view guidance as control and censorship.

Original poster

LynetteScavo · 14/12/2011 17:37

I started reading a book which was on a bookcase in a holiday cottage once when I was 14. I got as far as a rape scene before putting it down. I was quite disturbed by it, and felt really dirty for a long time afterwards.

OP posts:

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 17:39

Can you imagine a 13 year old reading a book such as the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? The book has a fantastic plot, that would be easy for a teen to follow, but not every chapter is appropriate.

mrsravelstein · 14/12/2011 17:40

totally agree with seeker. the only books my parents asked me to avoid were marquis de sade. had read everything from william burroughs to jackie collins by the age of 13, and some of it was very instructive

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 17:46

I would not want my children to think that the pages of a Jackie Collins novel are instructive.

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:46

I inferred from her post that you had them from birth, you read to them and with them, you guided them by encouraging them to read things that you think they would like. By 13yrs they have a natural progression and they can go into town by themselves, on the bus, and into the library by themselves.

I really don't think that a 13 yr old would read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The only way that I would have read it at 13 was if my mother told me not to!! I was more into Agatha Christie.

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:47

And I would have made quite sure that my mother didn't know!

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 17:49

So you are keeping your fingers crossed that a child will not pick up a best seller that is also a big movie and in the newspapers.

That's a good approach.

mrsravelstein · 14/12/2011 17:51

but they'll get hold of a jackie collins whether you like it or not, because you can guarantee there will copies of them (or whatever the modern version of jackie collins is) going around the class. we were all reading judy blume forever at 11/12, and even my extremely strict old fashioned girls school didn't bother trying to stop it.

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:52

I don't think they would. I would have read the blurb and the start at 13 and put it back on the shelf-it is very involved.

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:55

I went to a strict all girl's grammar school and we passed books around the class. One that someone's mother had drawn our attention as 'unsuitable' would have been a probable. I can't however see 'A Girl with a Dragon Tattoo' fitting the bill, it was such a horrible scene. (I didn't see any need for the graphic detail).

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:58

Children read books that interest them. I remember my brother wanting to read something he had seen on TV -it wasn't in the least suitable-and he gave up half way down the first page. (it was exciting drama but different on the page)

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:59

If you have done the proper training and guidance from an early age they will have worked out that the fact it is on a best sellers list, in the newspaper and a movie doesn't mean that it is necessarily a book they want to read!

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 18:10

I have never ever seen smutty novels going around a class.

Anyways, to step away from who is the most permissive parent, there is a problem providing good literature to teens. The 'written for' teens (eg Anthony Horowitz) can be very formulaic and limited in vocabulary. Adult books can contain unsavoury side stories.

What we do at our school is donate our used (clean) adult books to the school library, so that the students have a decent selection of varied books to choose from, in addition to the typical teen market books.

One of the problems I have seen as a parent of 4 teens, is that if you leave it totally up to them, they will choose the same genre of book (sometimes the same author) over and over. You may think they are reading well, but they are not doing an awful lot to extend their vocabulary or exposure to different writing styles.

A good school librarian is worth their weight in gold. Our librarian works with each student individually to recommend books, and also to prise book reviews out of willing volunteers.

As for the topic of the OP, I know that when I was at school, I read all of our texts in the summer holidays. We bought our own books at the end of the previous academic year, so we had them in our possession. I also tried to catch a production during the Edinburgh Fringe. I don't think reading Pride and Prejudice for yourself is even remotely the same as going through it in class, but it is good to have an overview of the story before the teacher reveals all the deep, hidden meaning.

DD is doing P&P for her GCSE, and they have been instructed to read the book before they start covering it in class. I have also bought her the BBC DVD (Colin Firth) for Christmas, and already have the Hollywood version from a few years ago.

Original poster

LynetteScavo · 14/12/2011 18:13

amerryscot thank you for that post - it makes a lot of sense, and completely answered my OP!

OP posts:

mrsravelstein · 14/12/2011 18:18

amerryscot i can't imagine where you went to school to have not seen that.

but honestly, i am agape at the idea of trying to stop a 13 year old reading adult books. i can only assume you're intending to not allow your kids out of the house without you until they're 18? ds1 is only 10 but he's pretty grown up already, and i can't imagine trying to police his life like that in 3 years time (speaking as a not especially permissive parent)

Fennel · 14/12/2011 18:29

To answer the OP, I don't think there's much you can do about a keen reader having read quite a few of the set texts. I had often read the set books at school and it made me a bit bored on occasion, so it's not ideal, but unless you know all the set texts well in advance it's likely to happen with a keen reader.

I'd never limit a child's reading, I read a huge amount as a teen and it didn't make me go out and perform the unsuitable sex acts I came across, I was too busy reading.

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 18:39

Well, I won't be letting them out to hang around shopping centres or street corners.

But they are allowed out when I know what their plans are, and that they will be safe and sociable.

mrsravelstein · 14/12/2011 18:40

fennel, precisely. i have never been tempted to perform any kinds of unusual acts with goldfish despite my early reading of 'Lucky' by Jackie Collins.

mrsravelstein · 14/12/2011 18:43

but presumably you'll let them, at 13, go to their friends' houses? and the friends might have all sorts of reading material you don't consider suitable, which your dc will be all the more keen to read given that you've forbidden it? i'm not trying to be aggressive, i'm just genuinely curious how you propose to exercise such control over your dc?

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 18:46

I do let my children go to their friends' houses - these families share our values.

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