To the Editor:
I emphatically agree with “Without Reading, There Is No Learning,” by Tim Donahue (Opinion guest essay, Feb. 25).
On the first day of my freshman writing class last semester at the University of Minnesota, when I asked the students to tell me about a work of literature they had enjoyed, one 18-year-old said he couldn’t name one, because “high school English killed my love of reading.”
He went on to explain that he had been assigned portions and summaries of novels — excerpts followed by quizzes, perhaps to prepare him for the SATs. Would art history teachers assign the left half of Picasso’s “Guernica” or the Mona Lisa? Literature is an art form. Let’s treat it like one.
What could possibly go wrong?
Julie SchumacherSt. Paul,fef777 cassino Minn.
To the Editor:
Tim Donahue’s inspiring essay about reading got me thinking about how obsessed we are in our culture with making everything “user friendly.” There may be good intentions behind this, but in doing so we often deny our learners the rewards of mastering something difficult.
Young musicians and athletes are lucky. They have no choice but to grin and bear a beginner’s frustration at skill building. A musician must make music to become one. Playing a sport makes the athlete.
There is no reason we shouldn’t ask the same of our budding readers, as Mr. Donahue recommends we do, and insist they become better at it by sticking with material that is harder to grasp. Think of the disservice done F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, “The Great Gatsby,” when an educator decides that the words the author chose with artistic precision can be discarded in favor of a summary.
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