Austin Scholar #113: America's reading problem
& how to get your kid to read
Hey, y'all!
This week from Austin Scholar...
Austin’s Anecdote: How to get your kid to read
America’s reading problem
Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been up to…
This weekend I’m going to the Stanford Admitted Students Weekend!! I get to stay in a dorm and go to events, and get a taste of what life at Stanford will look like. I’m so excited!!
In other news, Taylor Swift dropped her album recently and there has been a lot of discourse about it on social media. If your kid is at all interested in pop culture or Taylor Swift, I would definitely recommend talking with them about it – I’ve had great conversations with my parents about what and who the songs are about, whether the production is good, and the ranking of this album among her others.
Austin’s Anecdote: How to get your kid to read
I love reading.
Anything from JK Rowling to Kurt Vonnegut to Emily Dickinson – stories captivate me.
At this point, it’s kind of something I’m known for: I’m Austin and I love to read.
Can you help me get my kid to read? you might be wondering.
Trust me: you don’t need them to have an intrinsic love of reading in order to get them to read books.
Here are a few tips:
Read books that have movies or TV shows that go with them
This is actually how I started reading the Dune series – my friend and I watched the movie together and immediately wanted to read the book to learn more about the world and characters. You can do it that way (watching before reading), or instead make it so your kid has to read the book before they’re allowed to watch the movie. My parents did that with the Brave movie and I read the entire Brave book in one afternoon.
Do a family reading challenge
Modeling the behavior you want to see from your kid is key. Challenge the whole family to read one book in one week – spend thirty minutes to an hour reading together before bed. Create a culture where reading is something commonly done – and enjoyed – in your family.
Pay your kid to read
Nothing motivates kids more than money. Give them $5 for every 350+ page book they read, and they’ll be prolific readers before you know it. Simple, but effective.
Take them to libraries and bookstores
This one is so simple – even just going to a bookstore for thirty minutes one weekend with your kid can be enough to get them interested. Bring them to a section that seems interesting (not to stereotype, but YA romance novels can capture almost any girl’s attention, and sci-fi or fancy finance-bro non-fiction books make a lot of boys feel smart). Let them read the backs of some books and see what piques their interest.
America’s reading problem
There are actually a lot of problems with reading in America – and it’s not just that kids don’t love to read books.
More than ⅔ of students in America can’t read. At least not at grade level. And a lot of this comes down to our country's approach to reading instruction.