Does Education Train You to Hate Reading?

The Mission News: October 3, 2017

“It’s not books you need, it’s some of the things that once were in books. The same things could be in the ‘parlor families’ today. The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios, and televisions, but are not. No, no it’s not books at all you’re looking for! Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself. Books were only one type or receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.”
-Ray Bradbury

Education trains children to hate reading.

There. We said it.

Education is filled by those with good intentions, but something isn’t working:

• Half of High School graduates will never read another book.
• Over 90% of people who buy a book will never read (or finish) it.

These are rough estimates, and there is debate about how accurate those stats are. The bottom line is that people aren’t reading much. They spend almost two and a half decades of their lives in school or college. And when they are given their freedom from Education, they no longer have an interest in reading.

What we’re reading

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury’s fears came true. Firemen were never needed to burn books if nobody wanted to read them anymore.

News that matters

➜ A Kingston University study shows that readers are kinder people. Empathy and kindness are a skill, and books help us build them.

The Daily Challenge:

Begin reading something, anything — it could be this newsletter! And finish the whole thing. Maybe you pick an article, or a short book, or an evergreen essay. But pick the best thing you can to read, and finish it. If you complete the challenge, take a picture of what you read and tag us on the socials.

If you really want to read more, why aren’t you?

Why is making ourselves read great books so hard? First of all, the biggest challenge is self discipline. The second largest challenge is Education.

What we’re listening to

At low volume, this is a solid pick for background music while you’re reading. Or to get extra lost and absorbed in the book, try some nature sounds:

Originally published on our M-F Newsletter.

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