On Teaching the Love to Read

“We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.” (B.F. Skinner)

Do you think the way you were taught literature in school enhanced or diminished your interest in reading? In your opinion, how can schools increase interest in reading?

There is no single answer to this question, at least according to my experience. Living in Indonesia with its missing link of reading culture definitely ranks as the main culprit. While this question asks me about the role of school in the interest of reading, I could not help but feel that it is a failure of a nation. A school is a part of what a nation is, and therefore, a school in Indonesia simply can not be expected to adopt teaching the love a reading as one of its mission. At best, a student’s love of reading will be cultivated and nurtured by several teachers who cared about that particular aspect. The school as an institution, - forget it !

At this stage, answering the above question is somewhat difficult. I will not go to talk about my shools after junior high, - because of all grades, they are what I feel to be the most formative grades to me.

In my junior high, I know my interest in reading didn’t diminish. But my opinion is simply this : The school did not suppress or enhance my love of reading. In short, it has no effect at all. I would put the reason in the fact that in me, the love ( sometimes lust ! ) of reading is innate. It is something that I always felt for as early as I can remember. I still recall the smell of old books, - which curiously smelled good only to me -, when I took some from my Grandma’s storage room. Did the same thing happened to all people ? I guess not. But a very different answer will perhaps be my best guess if we connect this to a question relating to the school issue : Do schools actually have any effects at all for the love of reading ? I believe not.

This is, - of course -, a big problem. Any advanced civilizations always possess a carefully cultivated reading and writing culture as their roots. I am not a statesman, but for this matter, I think schools here need a massive paradigm shift to adopt that major cornerstone in learning as one of its pillars, so to speak. How shall it be done ? I am not competent to answer that. But surely there are some ways.