Agree with everything you said! I also can't help but wonder if we're simply teaching humanities incorrectly. I read and wrote a lot as a young boy, but by the time I was in high school, I wanted nothing to do with the English curriculum. Now having, in a sense, returned to my roots (I'm an English major), I've constructed a vague hypothesis about the degredation of the humanities: we've simply forgotten our "why" (shoutout to Simon Sinek). Many English professors do a good job of enjoying what we read and sharing that passion with their students, but some--and many more high school teachers--put students off of reading by assigning ends to the material. In other words, instead of reading to enjoy and reap reading's benefits, we're reading so we can pass a reading test (which is literally a test that teachers assign that asks questions about the book's content to check if the student actually read the book). I mean, what a waste! Everything is for a grade. Curriculums are literally designed so students will pass standardized tests because the schools (at least where I'm from) with the highest standarized test scores get the most funding. It's no wonder students would rather play video games than read a book. Reading has become more of a burden than an opportunity! How can a young student reap the benefits of a book if their only goal is to finish it so they can get a good grade???
Agree with everything you said! I also can't help but wonder if we're simply teaching humanities incorrectly. I read and wrote a lot as a young boy, but by the time I was in high school, I wanted nothing to do with the English curriculum. Now having, in a sense, returned to my roots (I'm an English major), I've constructed a vague hypothesis about the degredation of the humanities: we've simply forgotten our "why" (shoutout to Simon Sinek). Many English professors do a good job of enjoying what we read and sharing that passion with their students, but some--and many more high school teachers--put students off of reading by assigning ends to the material. In other words, instead of reading to enjoy and reap reading's benefits, we're reading so we can pass a reading test (which is literally a test that teachers assign that asks questions about the book's content to check if the student actually read the book). I mean, what a waste! Everything is for a grade. Curriculums are literally designed so students will pass standardized tests because the schools (at least where I'm from) with the highest standarized test scores get the most funding. It's no wonder students would rather play video games than read a book. Reading has become more of a burden than an opportunity! How can a young student reap the benefits of a book if their only goal is to finish it so they can get a good grade???