03 May 2008, 8:24 pm
03 May 2008, 9:13 pm
wsmac wrote:
I think you're being overly harsh.
I see kids reading more than I have ever seen since my childhood in the 60's.
We used to love going to the library back then.... my sister, and friends and I.
My daughter reads a wide variety spanning from those 'rich girls' books, to classics by E.B.White, to Eragon and Harry Potter, Science Fiction and Mystery.
The content is important... at times... but it isn't everything. Reading any of these types of books allows the mind to work anticipating what might happen next... could this really happen in real life... language usage by different cultures/societies, etc.
It's an experience and it all depends on what the reader makes of it.
To say that books should only be written ala Thoreau, L'Engle, Poe, Alcott, London... is to create a narrowly defined experience.
To me, that is not a good way to appreciate literature.
In my mind, it would be similar to saying your child is not allowed to play with certain kids because their language is terrible, and the games they play do not strive for a certain goal such as increasing accuracy, developing fine motor skills, etc.
The child would miss out on the diversity of experience available to them which could help them learn to be better at discriminating between things positive for them and those that are not.
Literature is the same way. I believe my daughter gains practical experiences from reading things I do not find appealing.
She is free to explore YA literature no matter the theme, because I trust that she can understand what is real and what is fiction.
She can appreciate the small bit of truth in all those characters because she seems some of that in the people she meets and deals with every day.
Besides... this argument cycles around with each generation. Same thing with music. The grownups always know best and the kids waste too much time on things the adults now see as worthless.
It never ends.....
I see kids reading more than I have ever seen since my childhood in the 60's.
We used to love going to the library back then.... my sister, and friends and I.
My daughter reads a wide variety spanning from those 'rich girls' books, to classics by E.B.White, to Eragon and Harry Potter, Science Fiction and Mystery.
The content is important... at times... but it isn't everything. Reading any of these types of books allows the mind to work anticipating what might happen next... could this really happen in real life... language usage by different cultures/societies, etc.
It's an experience and it all depends on what the reader makes of it.
To say that books should only be written ala Thoreau, L'Engle, Poe, Alcott, London... is to create a narrowly defined experience.
To me, that is not a good way to appreciate literature.
In my mind, it would be similar to saying your child is not allowed to play with certain kids because their language is terrible, and the games they play do not strive for a certain goal such as increasing accuracy, developing fine motor skills, etc.
The child would miss out on the diversity of experience available to them which could help them learn to be better at discriminating between things positive for them and those that are not.
Literature is the same way. I believe my daughter gains practical experiences from reading things I do not find appealing.
She is free to explore YA literature no matter the theme, because I trust that she can understand what is real and what is fiction.
She can appreciate the small bit of truth in all those characters because she seems some of that in the people she meets and deals with every day.
Besides... this argument cycles around with each generation. Same thing with music. The grownups always know best and the kids waste too much time on things the adults now see as worthless.
It never ends.....
I would almost never* judge someone for liking a certain book. It is the books I judge. I, too, am glad that teenagers are reading something, but I just think they deserve better, you know.
*I have to make one exception, because I simply do not trust people who like Ayn Rand. Anyone who likes Ayn Rand is likely to have a cruel streak. Sorry.
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