Want to make children hate reading? Send them to school.
I don't care what you say, school is bullshit. School made me hate reading. Why is that? Because we are forced to read pieces of shit that are considered literary masterpieces. William Shakespeare is probably the primary cause why kids hate reading. It's because adults, who think differently than children, believe they know what children like. You think adults know how kids thing? Well guess what? YOU DON'T! You teachers are at least a full generation removed from the children you teach. It wasn't until after I become an adult did I realize HOW MUCH of a difference there is between such a generation.
When I was in middle school, I remember asking one of my teachers what her favorite television channel was. She answered with 'PBS' and I went 'Ewww'. 'PBS' is the channel that had stuff like Sesame Street and Newton's Apple and Nova. You know, the channel where you actually learn stuff from watching. I remember being disgusted at my teacher's choice of channel preference and asked her what she thought of channels like Fox or CBS or NBC or such, which had stuff like 'Married: With Children' a show that still kicks ass to this date. You know what channels you liked, the ones that had shows like 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' and 'Voltron' and 'Transformers' and 'Robotech' and 'Thundercats' and 'The Real Ghostbusters'. I loved those shows. And funnily enough, five of those six shows are considered anime-style shows, so I guess I liked anime before I knew what anime was. Ah, those were the days. Anyway, I remember asking my teacher if she liked those kind of shows and she asked 'What are those shows? I never heard of them' to which I was appalled at her ignorance. What's funny is that now that I'm older and an adult (I think I'm an adult) and remember that conversation, it makes me realize just how much children and adults see the world differently. Now that I'm an adult, I tend to ONLY watch History, TLC, and Animal Planet, channels that show shows that are VERY MUCH like the 'PBS' shows that she enjoys. Why? Because you learn some wicked cool shit on those channels.
Because of this, I realize I now understand why my teachers seemed to like PBS. It was an interesting channel where you learn stuff. As a child that became an adult, and still young to boot, I understand both ways of thinking. I haven't grown so old that I forgot my youth. I'm kind of in that limbo stage with my way of thinking. I think like that of a child and that of an adult. It's already obvious that I'm becoming more and more of an adult because I'm slowly losing interest in the kinds of things I used to like as a child, like waking up early on Saturday to watch cartoons (I watch anime on my computer), or playing Nintendo (I play PS2 instead now), or jumping on the bed (I'm too heavy and a few jumps would break the bed-legs). Of course, there are things from my childhood that still remains, like my crush on Princess Allura from Voltron and how I'm jealous of those fucking mice that always get to hang out with her. She's hot. Anyway, because of my stage of thinking, I can think like that of an adult and child.
Now, back onto the rant. Adults choose the books for children to read. Adults who enjoy television shows on History and TLC and Animal Planet are choosing books for children that like shows like Yuugi-Oh and Dragon Ball Z (which I prefer to call 'Drag-On Ball Z'). Much like when I was young then, there's still a huge difference between the way children and adult thinks now as well. That's why you need someone that's in limbo like myself that can think as both an adult and child.
If adults want children to read they need to give children reading materials they would like to read. Comic books are an excellent example. They generally have a lot of pictures, which children like, and they CAN get kids learning if you choose the right kind of comic books for them to read. Heck, in about ten years from now, people should be giving kids the comic books about the 9/11 tragedy that come out in the stores nowadays. Not only will they learn about history, they will also enjoy it. It's because adult choose books that ADULTS like, that's why kids are so turned off to reading. I HATED reading until after I graduated from high school. It's because of bullshit books like 'Canterburry Tales' and 'Of Mice and Men' and 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Hamlet' and 'Othello' and anything written by William Shakespeare that turn children off to reading.
Adults want children to learn from what they read, right? How the fuck do kids learn from something they hate to read? What did I learn from reading Hamlet? Who fucking knows. I know the line 'To be or not to be. That is the question' came from it. That's about it. Wow, I sure learned a lot. Not only did you fucking teachers and your reading materials potentially forced me to HATE reading and believe all books suck, but I learned nothing from it as well. How the hell can you enjoy Shakespeare when it's written in that way? You like 'Old English' and think it's cool? Guess what, that isn't 'Old English' you believe that he writes in. It seems like you're not only NOT learning anything from reading books by him, but you're also learning things wrong. Man, making me try to learn shit from books I hate is like making me learn shit like Latin when I was in middle school. Did it expand my vocabulary like teachers expected? Not one bit! All I learned was that an 'atrium' was a room with a small 'pool' in the middle of it during the days of the Roman Empire. Way to go. I sure learned alot. Why not teach me Klingon while you're at it? There's a chance it MIGHT come in handy....like if I decide I never wanted to have sex again. After Latin, I ended up learning some French after that. How much do I remember from it? Basically nothing, except I hate learning a new language when I have enough trouble with English, my primary language. And did I learn anything in English class? Not really. English class made me read those fucking books which made me hate English even more!!! The most important thing you EVER learned you learned in elementary school, to look both ways before you cross the street!
The point I'm getting at is that adults should not be choosing books for children to read. Sure, you want them to read the books to help them learn and expand their horizons and vocabulary, but you're doing more harm than not. You're turning off children to reading and making them believe all books suck like that. If you make them enjoy reading, they will grow to love it and read more and more. You ever notice how people that nearly drown are very reluctant to learn to swim? It's because of the association with drowning that usually hinder a person's growth in learning to swim. That's the same with making kids read. You're making them associate reading with the shitty books that you give them and it hinders a person's growth, perhaps to a point to where they would hate reading.
You want to make kids love reading but you don't wanna have them read comic books? Find a kick-ass fanfic writer that wrote some exciting and educational fanfics on one of their favorite television shows. Have it where it's something like like favorite character talking about stuff that would be educational. For example, maybe someone can write a story about Yugi from 'Yugi-Oh' trying to explain how he hates school but was surprised at all the cool shit he learned. Right there, you have just piqued a child's interest in what Yugi had just learned and the child would like to know what Yugi learned so that they could be more like him. Make a child like what they're reading and they will like reading in general. Heck, why do you think people who read fanfiction read quite a bit of it? It's because they liked what they read and want to read more like it. Unfortunately, that applies to the opposite end of the spectrum. If they read crap all the time, they grow to dislike reading that crap and reading in general. I'm a living example of it. I don't go to fanfiction.net for fanfics to read because I tried and found myself having to wade through a bunch of crap fanfics to find that gem of a story and grew to associate that site as a site that contained gems within a LARGE pile of shit that I don't care to wade through.
Do I have anything against people who post to fanfiction.net? Not really. It's just unfortunate that fanfiction.net is a very easy medium for ANYONE to post a story, and all those 'anyone' usually just post for the sake of posting. You authors that write great stories know who you are and know that my mention of crap being on that site don't refer to you.
Don't think I ever intend to be that person who would help change the kinda reading materials children will hafta read. I may be kick-ass, and I may be a fanfic writer, but that doesn't make me a kick-ass fanfic writer. Besides, I'm also lazy and would wanna get paid shitloads of money for something like that but it clashes with my belief that fanfiction should be free to everyone. Also, I hate kids and believe in bitch slapping children if they don't shut the fuck up. Afterall, you're a kid and I'm an adult. Adults rule over kids. That's why kids don't rule the world. That's also why we should be able to eat animal freely, because we rule the world and animals have no right, but that'll be for another rant.
I'm sure there are you that will argue, that you liked Shakespeare and such when you were in high school, that you liked all the school materials you had to read.. It's great that you liked reading those books. This rant isn't about you. Heck, reading in school could've actually turned you on to reading. This rant is about my view of how most of the books are a potential 'near drowning' waiting to happen that can ultimately turn a child off to reading. I believe adults make more children dislike reading because of the choices that make kids read.
If we want to make children like reading, give them really interesting shit that they would like.
Anyway, all in all, the point of this rant is that adults that chose the books that we should read when we were young are fucking assholes and I hate them.
School makes kids hate reading.