Learning in the Absence of Education
Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine
Index
Homeschool
Australia
What is all the Fuss about Reading (Fiction) Anyway!
Everywhere I look in early childhood education there is this incredible emphasis and focus on reading fiction! I agree that learning to read is invaluable, if not essential, in an educational program, and that it is desirable to learn to read. But there are many ways to learn how to read... I find that the promotion of reading fiction, that is, stories and novels, above all else as the desirable end point of learning how to read quite off-putting!
I am a good reader - I love to read, and spent countless hours 'lost' in books as a child. My daughter taught herself to read at the age of three and a half, although I don’t actually remember this - thank goodness for those meticulous records I kept! She is an avid reader, finishing two to three novels each week. Robin (father) and Roger don't read a lot, and when they do it is mostly for information. In fact reading for information is quite a pleasurable past-time in itself. At nine, Thomas is just learning to read, and prefers non-fiction as well. Much has been made of the fact that girls love to read fiction and most boys don't, and I still don't know why!
Reading fiction is pushed on nearly every child in our society, and a child is considered a ‘poor reader’ if he or she doesn’t indulge in a love of books by an early age. As the parent of two non-fiction reading boys I ask myself regularly - why be concerned? Why do we need to encourage reluctant boy readers to read more, especially fiction, something they seem to avoid?
I've read all the arguments about why it is important for children to learn to love literature - I am studying children's literature and education at university level at present. All of these arguments are mostly stated, as far as I can make out, by people who love to read, who are passionate about reading, and do a lot of it themselves. Where are the opinions of those who don't share a passion for reading? Certainly not being quoted in the books apprentice teachers read! As a society we really value reading, and there is a tremendous social stigma connected to not reading. It is terrible being the only person at a party who isn’t discussing the latest novel... try being a writer who doesn’t read fiction... it is a real conversation stopper!
One of my concerns arising from my early childhood education university studies is the dominance placed on learning to read over all the other skills, including mathematics and science. Learning to read, in early childhood education, is more often than not narrowly focussed on reading fiction. Reading for information seems to considered just a by-product of learning to love literature and reading fictional stories.
Surely reading for information is a far more important skill than reading for pleasure? Although I
do believe all the members of my family find it pleasurable to read for information, or they
wouldn’t do it! I rarely read fiction nowadays, however I find it tremendously stimulating when I
do. Over the years I have found literature, great fictional stories, often take me far away from
the real world. I become anti-social and distant, not only when I am reading a book, but also
sometimes for hours afterwards as I remain immersed in the fictional landscape. Literature really
affects me; my journey into the story is always a deep and personally meaningful experience.
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Excerpt from Learning in the Absence of Home Education: Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine, 1999
