Love your last paragraph. It’s funny that I wasn’t even thinking about high school English teachers when I read and thought about that piece! I was thinking about my kids (currently 3rd and 6th) and how reading comprehension in elementary/middle now looks like single sheet excerpts (often informational) with five multiple choice questions to ascertain reading comprehension “skills”. Coincidentally, these look just like what they are tested on via computer. I think the conversation about how K-12 “reform” and high stakes testing intersects with this issue is huge. In my opinion, it hasn’t worked, and we’ve lost a lot.
I also was focused on my husband as a professor and while students have always complained about difficult and too much reading, their willingness and (in his assessment) ability to do it has measurably declined over the 15 years he has been teaching. He currently assigns 25% of the reading (by page number) he did for the same class 15 years ago. Still, most don’t do it and those who do always tell him it is too hard (these are graduate students). That does worry me.
I’ll cultivate my values on this front in my own kids— I’ll go to great lengths to do it, if I’m honest. But I feel bereft about a loss of collective value on this front, nevertheless.
I work on college access and success and we talk a lot about meeting students where they are to engage them. But often left out is that you meet them where they are in order to move them from where they are because that is what teaching and learning is.
I completely agree with what you're saying here. Your husband's experience and what the professors are saying in this article worries me as well, as does what sounds like the bulk of your kids' experience! I think all of the reform was very well intentioned and I can understand how we got here, but some aspects of education aren't measurable...at least not easily measurable. And I agree that we have sacrificed a lot of truly important learning for the sake of data collection. I don't think that's good for kids OR teachers! I don't think most teachers enjoy this type of teaching and tying pay to testing doesn't seem right to me. There are so many issues I just don't know where we go from here. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I work in higher ed policy and watching K-12 reform unfold over the course of my adult life (I’m 45) has very much changed how I think about and work on policy solutions in the post secondary realm. I agree with the good intentions. I remain dumbfounded that the field has not had any reckoning with the results/failures, and many want to repeat it all in post secondary!
Thank you for such a well thought out explanation of this! I have two daughters (one a freshman in college, and one a junior in high school) and I’ve definitely noticed that they don’t get assigned many full books compared to my own high school experience in the early 90’s. I’ve wondered about this and really appreciate the way you formulate how to think through this as well as the enormous task for English teachers!
It's such an enormous task! And I think many English teachers would love it if they got to read more full books with kids!! Hopefully the pendulum will swing back in that direction.
I graduated high school in 2007 and the most important class I ever took, in high school AND college, was AP English. Not only did that class teach me to think critically about text and literature, it taught me to think critically about the world and my place in it. That class opened a door for me to interrogate assumptions about society, was an entry point to feminism and anti-capitalist thought, and taught me how to think through what I was reading more deeply. I genuinely think I would not be the person I am today without that class.
YES!! This is so well said. I don't think English teachers set out to instill specific views in students, but we do try to offer different frameworks for analysis and this is revolutionary! When I introduced my students to feminist theory and Marxist criticism or even psychoanalytic theory, my hope was that they'd be able to put these different lenses on all to view a wide variety of art and media, and to gain a more holistic understand of the world around them.
Thanks for this thought-provoking article Sara. I just want to say BIG LOVE to all the English teachers. My English teacher somehow seemed to manage to do all the things you listed in the article. I now realize she was basically a wizard.
Very much appreciate your thoughts on this, as well as the link to Santo-Thomas's follow up piece.
I read this article over the weekend (well, first I read the clickbait-y snippets on IG, then I saw many uninformed comments from opinionated people who clearly hadn't read the article, then I read the article.) I would say my thoughts are on track with what you've laid out here.
I will also say I've really appreciated the ELA curriculum my kids have experienced so far in middle and high school. They've gotten a mix of excerpts, short works, full novels read as a class, as well as novels read in small groups where they have more choice over what they read, and I think the selections are an excellent mix of more classic works as well as contemporary selections. It seems to me like their teachers are doing an amazing job of balancing many different goals and I make sure to tell them!
I graduated in 2004 and know many a student who barely did any of the required reading in school and/or arrived in college not having necessary reading and writing skills. This is not a new thing, though I do think it's something that has evolved in potentially troubling ways.
I do worry about literacy and all it impacts, but this is a much bigger issue than Common Core standards and cell phones, it's certainly not a shortcoming of teachers, though the buck always seems to stop with them.
Sounds like your kids have some awesome teachers! And I love your point about this not being new. I finished very few of the books I was assigned in high school and now reading books is my job! I also worry about literacy but sometimes more with adults than teens 🙈 Like you said, so many people were sharing and responding to this without actually reading it!!
Thank you for this essay. It is so well written and thought provoking. I was really impressed by the curriculum laid out by my high school freshman’s teacher, which seems so interesting and challenging and is really engaging my child. (and me! The first book they read was something I’d meant to get to, so I am reading it now with the added bonus of all her highlights and notes). But I think your point about challenging ourselves as readers and talking about it is something I will keep in my mind.
Thank you for your insightful post. What really shocked me about The Atlantic article was the lack of mention of parents teaching a love of reading at a young age. I think if that is instilled, it can carry through to college and adulthood. I still remember my dad reading to me when I was little, and now my mom and I talk about books and she's 91. You said it well yourself, but did not mention that parents can help: "But with everything on their plates, young people need more points of exposure to books, more opportunities to engage in deep reading, and to be surrounded by a culture that truly values books."
Wow! I finally feel seen! While I am not a high school English teacher (middle school, here), many of these points are applicable in middle school. We are all trying to do too much (as required), and doing very little well. It makes me sad. When I started teaching 22 years ago, we had separate literature and writing classes, but over the last 15 years, they have been merged into one class covering it “all.”
Loved this letter Sarah! Wondering if you had any thoughts about the Atlantic piece citing students love for Percy Jackson as a alarm bell for a lack of rigor in reading. When I first read that part it made me sad (mostly because of their snark) but also since I think that the middle grade book series that is beloved in my age group (I'm a '98 Gen Z!) was a definite entry point to delving into Greek mythology and its teachings (ie. the popularity of Greek retellings for adults: Circe, Son of Achilles, Stone Blind). I get the author/professor's snark here because there is a broader literary world to be explored with much more rigorous texts, but I think kids at a young age have to find the book that gets them excited about reading so that they feel better prepped and inspired to delve into the work of the Scarlett Letter or The Odyssey in class. And as you said a lot of that comes from the adults in their life sharing their favorite books or taking them to the library. I'm not sure why Percy Jackson is being cited in more collegiate-level classrooms, but maybe college students are starting to be far more honest about their reading habits and what books got them to the English class in the first place?
I thought this was interesting too, and I, like you, have complicated feelings about it. I do think there is an element of students just being more honest! Maybe if professors asked them about the best books they've read, they'd say something different. I think we're all very aware of the way favorite/best can align or not. I also think that YA and middle grade has gotten bigger and better in recent years. YA lit wasn't a think when I was in high school! We had kids books and then were thrown into the deep end of adult literature, so I also think it just didn't exist for much of these professors' careers. Maybe students were citing Jane Eyre as their favorite because Twilight didn't exist yet! Overall though, I think students need to be exposed to books that are exciting and accessible to them AND books that are challenging and that require support to get through. I think there is not nearly enough time for middle and high school teachers to do both (especially on top of all the test prep!) and that is a huge problem. I'm not sure I fully believe that if kids read a ton of Percy Jackson they'll eventually find their way into more rigorous texts although I do think that's true for some people. But there does need to be a foundation of pleasure so they know that working through something more challenging will be worth it! One of the things I find troubling in this regard is how few adults read rigorous texts and how there is a celebration on Bookstagram and book podcasts (I'm not sure about BookTok!) of being able to read whatever we want now that we're adults so we don't have to read boring books and classics anymore. I do think young people need to see intellectual rigor as something worth our time as adults for them to think it's worth their time as well. I'd love to know your thoughts!!
PREACH, Sara. I had lots of great conversations about this article this weekend with my teacher and librarian friends. As always, I love your take on the topic.
I'm not sure I can bring myself to read The Atlantic article - that last line alone pisses me off. The Iliad is SO BORING. Even Emily Wilson couldn't save it. Thanks so much for linking to the response from Carrie Santo-Thomas. It's excellent.
The Iliad is so boring!! Pick any other book for that last line! And yes I loved Carrie Santo-Thomas’s piece. It is so smart…I would never have considered her ideas about code switching! And the way The Atlantic treated her and her ideas is very telling.
Yes! There is so so much more to say about this! I only left the classroom four years ago but I know it's changed even more radically in those four years. I feel I could comment or offer empathy on everything you said here, but mostly I need to know if you and your husband are watching ENGLISH TEACHER?? The episode about grading papers and not being able to fail students was one of the most cathartic television viewing experiences I've ever had!
Yes that is absolutely right. I know so many teachers (myself included) who left when the quality of life and the treatment from students and parents became so negative we couldn't do it anymore. And that's so sad because these are people who loved it and wanted to continue. I don't know what will be easier to change, the pay or the culture, but both need to.
Love your last paragraph. It’s funny that I wasn’t even thinking about high school English teachers when I read and thought about that piece! I was thinking about my kids (currently 3rd and 6th) and how reading comprehension in elementary/middle now looks like single sheet excerpts (often informational) with five multiple choice questions to ascertain reading comprehension “skills”. Coincidentally, these look just like what they are tested on via computer. I think the conversation about how K-12 “reform” and high stakes testing intersects with this issue is huge. In my opinion, it hasn’t worked, and we’ve lost a lot.
I also was focused on my husband as a professor and while students have always complained about difficult and too much reading, their willingness and (in his assessment) ability to do it has measurably declined over the 15 years he has been teaching. He currently assigns 25% of the reading (by page number) he did for the same class 15 years ago. Still, most don’t do it and those who do always tell him it is too hard (these are graduate students). That does worry me.
I’ll cultivate my values on this front in my own kids— I’ll go to great lengths to do it, if I’m honest. But I feel bereft about a loss of collective value on this front, nevertheless.
I work on college access and success and we talk a lot about meeting students where they are to engage them. But often left out is that you meet them where they are in order to move them from where they are because that is what teaching and learning is.
I completely agree with what you're saying here. Your husband's experience and what the professors are saying in this article worries me as well, as does what sounds like the bulk of your kids' experience! I think all of the reform was very well intentioned and I can understand how we got here, but some aspects of education aren't measurable...at least not easily measurable. And I agree that we have sacrificed a lot of truly important learning for the sake of data collection. I don't think that's good for kids OR teachers! I don't think most teachers enjoy this type of teaching and tying pay to testing doesn't seem right to me. There are so many issues I just don't know where we go from here. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I work in higher ed policy and watching K-12 reform unfold over the course of my adult life (I’m 45) has very much changed how I think about and work on policy solutions in the post secondary realm. I agree with the good intentions. I remain dumbfounded that the field has not had any reckoning with the results/failures, and many want to repeat it all in post secondary!
But I digress. 😭
Thank you for such a well thought out explanation of this! I have two daughters (one a freshman in college, and one a junior in high school) and I’ve definitely noticed that they don’t get assigned many full books compared to my own high school experience in the early 90’s. I’ve wondered about this and really appreciate the way you formulate how to think through this as well as the enormous task for English teachers!
It's such an enormous task! And I think many English teachers would love it if they got to read more full books with kids!! Hopefully the pendulum will swing back in that direction.
I graduated high school in 2007 and the most important class I ever took, in high school AND college, was AP English. Not only did that class teach me to think critically about text and literature, it taught me to think critically about the world and my place in it. That class opened a door for me to interrogate assumptions about society, was an entry point to feminism and anti-capitalist thought, and taught me how to think through what I was reading more deeply. I genuinely think I would not be the person I am today without that class.
YES!! This is so well said. I don't think English teachers set out to instill specific views in students, but we do try to offer different frameworks for analysis and this is revolutionary! When I introduced my students to feminist theory and Marxist criticism or even psychoanalytic theory, my hope was that they'd be able to put these different lenses on all to view a wide variety of art and media, and to gain a more holistic understand of the world around them.
Thanks for this thought-provoking article Sara. I just want to say BIG LOVE to all the English teachers. My English teacher somehow seemed to manage to do all the things you listed in the article. I now realize she was basically a wizard.
Amazing! English teachers are the best!! And sounds like you had a particularly wonderful one ❤️
Very much appreciate your thoughts on this, as well as the link to Santo-Thomas's follow up piece.
I read this article over the weekend (well, first I read the clickbait-y snippets on IG, then I saw many uninformed comments from opinionated people who clearly hadn't read the article, then I read the article.) I would say my thoughts are on track with what you've laid out here.
I will also say I've really appreciated the ELA curriculum my kids have experienced so far in middle and high school. They've gotten a mix of excerpts, short works, full novels read as a class, as well as novels read in small groups where they have more choice over what they read, and I think the selections are an excellent mix of more classic works as well as contemporary selections. It seems to me like their teachers are doing an amazing job of balancing many different goals and I make sure to tell them!
I graduated in 2004 and know many a student who barely did any of the required reading in school and/or arrived in college not having necessary reading and writing skills. This is not a new thing, though I do think it's something that has evolved in potentially troubling ways.
I do worry about literacy and all it impacts, but this is a much bigger issue than Common Core standards and cell phones, it's certainly not a shortcoming of teachers, though the buck always seems to stop with them.
Sounds like your kids have some awesome teachers! And I love your point about this not being new. I finished very few of the books I was assigned in high school and now reading books is my job! I also worry about literacy but sometimes more with adults than teens 🙈 Like you said, so many people were sharing and responding to this without actually reading it!!
Thank you for this essay. It is so well written and thought provoking. I was really impressed by the curriculum laid out by my high school freshman’s teacher, which seems so interesting and challenging and is really engaging my child. (and me! The first book they read was something I’d meant to get to, so I am reading it now with the added bonus of all her highlights and notes). But I think your point about challenging ourselves as readers and talking about it is something I will keep in my mind.
That is so wonderful!! I'm glad to hear the curriculum is serving your family well!
Thank you for your insightful post. What really shocked me about The Atlantic article was the lack of mention of parents teaching a love of reading at a young age. I think if that is instilled, it can carry through to college and adulthood. I still remember my dad reading to me when I was little, and now my mom and I talk about books and she's 91. You said it well yourself, but did not mention that parents can help: "But with everything on their plates, young people need more points of exposure to books, more opportunities to engage in deep reading, and to be surrounded by a culture that truly values books."
Thank you, Andrea! I love hearing about how your parents fostered a love of books!
Wow! I finally feel seen! While I am not a high school English teacher (middle school, here), many of these points are applicable in middle school. We are all trying to do too much (as required), and doing very little well. It makes me sad. When I started teaching 22 years ago, we had separate literature and writing classes, but over the last 15 years, they have been merged into one class covering it “all.”
It’s too much!! Sorry to hear you’re experiencing this too but you are amazing for giving so much to your students for so long!
Loved this letter Sarah! Wondering if you had any thoughts about the Atlantic piece citing students love for Percy Jackson as a alarm bell for a lack of rigor in reading. When I first read that part it made me sad (mostly because of their snark) but also since I think that the middle grade book series that is beloved in my age group (I'm a '98 Gen Z!) was a definite entry point to delving into Greek mythology and its teachings (ie. the popularity of Greek retellings for adults: Circe, Son of Achilles, Stone Blind). I get the author/professor's snark here because there is a broader literary world to be explored with much more rigorous texts, but I think kids at a young age have to find the book that gets them excited about reading so that they feel better prepped and inspired to delve into the work of the Scarlett Letter or The Odyssey in class. And as you said a lot of that comes from the adults in their life sharing their favorite books or taking them to the library. I'm not sure why Percy Jackson is being cited in more collegiate-level classrooms, but maybe college students are starting to be far more honest about their reading habits and what books got them to the English class in the first place?
I thought this was interesting too, and I, like you, have complicated feelings about it. I do think there is an element of students just being more honest! Maybe if professors asked them about the best books they've read, they'd say something different. I think we're all very aware of the way favorite/best can align or not. I also think that YA and middle grade has gotten bigger and better in recent years. YA lit wasn't a think when I was in high school! We had kids books and then were thrown into the deep end of adult literature, so I also think it just didn't exist for much of these professors' careers. Maybe students were citing Jane Eyre as their favorite because Twilight didn't exist yet! Overall though, I think students need to be exposed to books that are exciting and accessible to them AND books that are challenging and that require support to get through. I think there is not nearly enough time for middle and high school teachers to do both (especially on top of all the test prep!) and that is a huge problem. I'm not sure I fully believe that if kids read a ton of Percy Jackson they'll eventually find their way into more rigorous texts although I do think that's true for some people. But there does need to be a foundation of pleasure so they know that working through something more challenging will be worth it! One of the things I find troubling in this regard is how few adults read rigorous texts and how there is a celebration on Bookstagram and book podcasts (I'm not sure about BookTok!) of being able to read whatever we want now that we're adults so we don't have to read boring books and classics anymore. I do think young people need to see intellectual rigor as something worth our time as adults for them to think it's worth their time as well. I'd love to know your thoughts!!
PREACH, Sara. I had lots of great conversations about this article this weekend with my teacher and librarian friends. As always, I love your take on the topic.
Thanks, Katy!
I'm not sure I can bring myself to read The Atlantic article - that last line alone pisses me off. The Iliad is SO BORING. Even Emily Wilson couldn't save it. Thanks so much for linking to the response from Carrie Santo-Thomas. It's excellent.
The Iliad is so boring!! Pick any other book for that last line! And yes I loved Carrie Santo-Thomas’s piece. It is so smart…I would never have considered her ideas about code switching! And the way The Atlantic treated her and her ideas is very telling.
FWIW, I got some of my linguistics wrong, but I’m working on it. 😊📚💙
Yes! There is so so much more to say about this! I only left the classroom four years ago but I know it's changed even more radically in those four years. I feel I could comment or offer empathy on everything you said here, but mostly I need to know if you and your husband are watching ENGLISH TEACHER?? The episode about grading papers and not being able to fail students was one of the most cathartic television viewing experiences I've ever had!
Yes that is absolutely right. I know so many teachers (myself included) who left when the quality of life and the treatment from students and parents became so negative we couldn't do it anymore. And that's so sad because these are people who loved it and wanted to continue. I don't know what will be easier to change, the pay or the culture, but both need to.