Readicide

I wish I had coined the term for this entry. Sadly I did not. But it's a very poignant word. There are many types of "cides." Genocide, the killing of a people. Homocide, the killing of another person and even regicide, the killing of a king (I only know that from Age of Empires II). Readicide, by all accounts, must be the killing of reading or books. As high school teachers we have a pretty good record of this. For the most part we tout the classics in literature as great reads but secretly haven't read them ourselves. I know that I've assigned hundreds of pages out of The American Pageant for my AP U.S. History kids, the very same book I skipped through some ten years ago in the very same class. Lots of students get burned out on The Iliad and Moby Dick before their reading palettes ever become fully developed.

This became clear to me this past week during TAKS testing. I was assigned to a room of sophomores, many of whom I don't teach. One of them asked me where I taught English in the building. I responded with, well I actually teach history. She turned her head and replied, "Then how come you like books?"

Wow.

I said some of my favorite reads are history books. "Textbooks?" she asked me. "Of course not", I replied. "Textbooks are dry, boring and sterile." I think this prompted a look of great confusion on her face. Like I had just violated some covenant made among high school teachers. That the books we teach from are sacred texts never to be openly criticized. I defended my textbook during the early part of this year. It was my first go at teaching AP U.S. History. The last time I cracked that brick was January. I don't want to assign my kids things they can't highlight and make notes on or draw on.

On some level I'm guilty of readicide. Sometimes I assign long passages of text just because that's all I know what to do. I've already begun planning for next year. Shorter passages. More primary sources.

I think as long as kids are reading SOMETHING I'll be happy. Perhaps it's John Grisham and not John Steinback. Or Percy Jackson instead of Andrew Jackson. Either way there's a book in their hands.