“So, what did you guys think about Daisy in ‘The Great Gatsby’?”
The answers my classmates gave were proof that the books were probably crumpled in the bottom of their backpacks, for the past week. “Oh, I liked her!” or “She was okay.”
Hardly anyone had actually read the book. Hardly anyone knew the controversy surrounding Daisy. Her selfishness, lack of empathy and superficiality were way past the Sparknotes chapter summaries everyone relied on for the weekly reading quizzes.
Reading the books assigned in English class is more than an assignment. It's a careful decision each teacher makes to maximize learning opportunities. Reading isn’t about looking through the words that someone else wrote.
Reading helps reduce stress, build empathy, lower the risk of Alzheimer's and increases lifespan, according to the Centre for Adult Education.
But with the spread of technology and artificial intelligence, reading just stands in the way of doomscrolling or logging on and playing hours of Fortnite with your friends.
To most English students, reading is just an assignment, not an opportunity to expand your horizons and explore unique subject matter.
Every book I’ve ever been assigned in school has been read, annotated, sticknoted, from cover to cover. This should be the case for every single English student.
I’ll be the first one to admit that SM East students have been given the opportunity to read some of the best books ever written as part of an assignment. “The Great Gatsby,” “The Book Thief,” “To Kill A Mockingbird" and “Fahrenheit 451” all come to mind.
I’ll also confess that some of the books I’ve been assigned have been more boring than watching the washing machine whirl around during a quick wash cycle. But with every single boring book, I learned a lesson and read beyond the historical fiction and spy novels I usually pick out at Barnes and Noble.
“A Separate Piece?” I learned never to take a friendship for granted.
“Outliers?” It taught me an undeniably accurate equation for success.
But if I’d leaned on Sparknotes to prioritize binging Netflix and hanging out with friends, I would’ve learned nothing from even the books I absolutely hated.
Sure, I could survive the quizzes and class discussions. What good would that do? If we go to school to learn, we should commit to everything learning offers — including the 372 assigned pages.
If there’s anything school has taught me, it's that words have meaning. Poems have meaning. Books have meaning.
And those annotations that people described as “useless,” also have meaning.
The next time you have to check out a book from the library on the fourth floor for an English essay, just do it. Take the time to actually read it. You might hate it. You might want to take a swipe at the protagonist.
But by the end, you’ll learn something.
And the whole ordeal of reading will all be worth it.
Leave a Reply