For the next two posts, I intend on discussing the idea and importance of reading.  First as it pertains to me personally, and second as to its wider implications.

 A couple of years ago during school I was reading a book in a free period.  When I have the time, it helps break the monotony of classes.  But my friend had been making fun of me for it. 

 “So,” I said , “what’s wrong with that?”

 I was rather defensive since it was a book by Frank Herbert, a favorite author of mine.

 “It’s boring! Besides,” he said sardonically, “you’re not doing anything! You just sit there and look at a bunch of words.  Where’s the fun in that!?”

 And that’s what it comes down to for so many people isn’t it: where’s the fun at? I remember sitting there, momentarily stunned, and wondering if that was the beginning of  my complete social demise. 

 “But no?” I thought, “It’s not like I’m the only one who reads!”

 I was surprised at how close to the truth that errant thought actually was.  I can remember surreptitiously asking friends whether they had read anything good lately – just to test the waters.  I couldn’t believe how many said they hadn’t read a book on their own in years.  Sure, they read To Kill A Mockingbird because we had to. They gritted their teeth through Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, but that was the extent of it.  So that made me think: why do I like to read?

 So I’ll put out there the few things that I felt were the most important to me when it came to reading.  First, finding what kinds of books I like to read.  Sounds easy, right? Well for a lot of kids you find that they just don’t know what they like.  They’ve never explored the different genres to get a feel for what interests them.  Once you hit on something you enjoy, you go back for more!  Think of the thousands of young kids that are now fantasy nuts because of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.  When you have a new series or novel sitting in front of you by your favorite author, it’s exciting! It’s the only virus that doesn’t make you sick!

 Second, the example set by my parents.  My fondest memories are of my mom and I going to the library on a Saturday, getting a big bag of books, and going home to flop on the bed and read.  It was something she genuinely enjoyed and she wanted to instill that enjoyment in me.  Her with a 1000 page historical fiction on Cleopatra, and me with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are.  It made reading more fun!  If there was a word I didn’t know, I was told I always should ask.  If there was a picture I liked, I would share it with her.  Sometimes she would tell me about what was going on in her book to change things up.  It became an activity that was engaging to all the facets of my curious 5 year old mind. 

 And that’s the most important part.  Reading does not mean sitting in a dark room with a light by yourself.  Reading means engaging yourself in a story that takes you away from your normal life and transports you into the world created by the author.  You can be Hester Prynne in Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, walking down 17^th century Jamestown with a scarlet “A” on your chest. You can be Harry Potter soaring around the Quidditch field trying to find the golden snitch.  You can be Ender from Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game walking down the halls of Battle School.  You can be anything!

 So — ask your kid what he wants to be when he grows up, if he says fireman then give him a big ole’ book about fireman! What’s the worst that could happen? A lecture from your 5 year old about the need for fire extinguishers!? 

There are a lot of things that determine our lives and sometimes it seems that there is so little we can do to change it. Politics, world economy and international relations seem to be living in a separate world from us, ordinary people. It’s no wonder that people become more and more detached from what is going on around them. But is there really nothing we can do about it?

For two years now a group of Estonians have expressed great initiative and eagerness to contradict that kind of uncertainty. In May 2008 around 50 000 people came to the fore to clean the forests, parks and roadsides from garbage. In just five hours of work around 10 000 tons of trash was collected which could be said was the best birthday present for our country (Estonia turned 90 last year). The slogan of the project was simple: “Let’s do it!”

This May the initiative continued but under a new slogan and concept. It was called “My Estonia”. People came together as well, but this time not to do something but to put their heads together and think of ways to make the world a better place. There were agencies of that initiative set up in every county, village and town - close enough to everyone living in this country. They discussed the issues that were bothering them and tried to come up with suggestions on what should be done. No bluf, but concrete ideas.

This week one of the leading newspapers in Estonia publised some of those ideas, just to give us a peek on what was discussed. I was more than surprised that among proposals on how to make traffic safer and improve our education system, which are absolutely important topics as well, the slow movement has also crawled into the heads of so many people around me. Here are some examples:

How to make the most of the economic crisis?

• become friends with nature - go hiking, biking etc.
• talk to your children about how the world works
• do some gardening and help your neighbour in it as well
• pick your own berries and mushrooms from the woods
• bring back romance, take a midnight walk under the starry sky
• improve your cooking skills

Slow reading is about reading at a reflective pace.

There are many different kinds of reading, both fast and slow. Fast reading is greatly facilitated by digital technology. For a time, we thought that digital technology would replace books altogether. We were wrong about that. Print and books are more prevalent than ever. We are in the middle of a cultural shift that is still learning the proper place of digital technology. Fast information is terrific when we need a quick, rough answer, but like fast food it often leaves one hungering for something more substantial. Digital technology is terrific for finding information and reading short snippets, but print and books lend themselves to slow reading, a form of reading that is more pleasant and often is the only way to really understand a concept.

Many types of reading are improved by reading slowly: literature with rich dimensions that might be missed if read too quickly; local stories that engage our personal memories; and research materials that require sustained thought for understanding. Slow readers might only read a page or two at a time, reading and re-reading until they apprehend the experience or meaning represented in the text.

Slow readers often enjoy a sensual relationship with their information — noticing the well-selected binding, paper, illustrations and type; sub-vocalizing or reading the text aloud to hear it. Slow readers prefer books over screens, for the superior readability of paper, but also for the fixity of print. Print captures ideas and gives them a stillness that allows the reader to open deeply to them. The binding of a book captures an experience or idea at a particular space and time. When the reading is complete, you place it with satisfaction on your bookshelf.

Slow reading is an art form, a third way of reading not just for information or entertainment. The reader calls upon creative faculties and is changed in the process of reading. It has both the serious purpose of reading non-fiction to better understand things, and the playful imagination of reading fiction to see things in new ways. There is no artifact of this art form; no book, no painting, no sculpture; but like all good art, the act of slow reading exercises our imagination to develop interiority, our psychological framework.

Slow reading is a community event, restoring connections between ideas and people. The continuity of relationships through reading is experienced when we borrow books from friends; when we read long stories to our kids till they fall asleep; when we take turns reading a play aloud with our teenagers; when we share what we are reading with family and friends over dinner.

Slow reading is closely associated with the larger Slow movement and its theme of locality. Not only do we change our relationship with time, but with space too. Slow readers seek out local content, local readings and encourage micro-publishing. These acts not only provide an audience for local writers, but nurture diversity that replenishes global media when its formulaic content runs dry.

Slow readers support local libraries as a public space in the overwhelming presence of commercial space. Libraries are a shelter and turning point for those with few resources; a place for entrepreneurs to get started; a hall for public discourse among citizens interested in social change.

Slow reading is a form of resistance, challenging a hectic culture that requires speed reading of volumes of information fragments. Slow reading is therapeutic as it restores a sense of well-being. It enriches our private lives and better equips us for the world. Slow reading is recognition of the intrinsically worthy act of reading. It is good for our minds, our emotional health, our communities and planet.

Reprinted by the author, John Miedema. Originally printed at his blog. Litwin Books has just published John’s book, Slow Reading.

[I do apologize for the delay between posts, but it seems the beast that is high school had me firmly in its grasp for a few months.  Stayin’ slow isn’t always easy!]

 Most parents would like to think that their teens don’t cheat.  That they do their work honestly and faithfully.  That their eyes remain on their paper and all work is their work.

 Teens today, however, don’t quite operate that way.  If 10 students were assigned a reading assignment with discussion following it the next day, it would go something like this: 3 students wouldn’t read it all, 4 students wouldn’t read it, but WOULD read the Sparknotes/Cliffnotes/Offline Summary, and the other 3 students will actually do the assignment as intended.  I can honestly say that I fall into the category of actually reading the assignment. Shortcuts are becoming more and more appealing.  A recent study put forth by the Josephon Institute involving 100 randomly selected students from public and private schools showed that 64% of U.S. high school students have cheated on a test, 38% stating they had done so on more than one occasion.  Furthermore, 36% said they had used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment. 

 Who’s to blame for the alarmingly high statistics? Parents? Teachers? Internet? Television? Society? The easy way out is to blame us — the students.  Students are a part of the problem, but perhaps it’s the classroom that could be the problem.  Perhaps an overwhelming focus on, “what’s the answer?” as opposed to, “how did you reach that answer?” is the reason.  I attend a well-respected Private School with teachers who range from ex-NASA scientists to the Dean of Admissions and Sciences at a major state university.  At an institution that prides itself for it’s attention to detail and student understanding of the material, I have actually had a teacher say to me “It’s not important that you understand what you’re doing — just that you do it.”  I was at a loss for words.  Had I actually heard that?  I had.  There are times in life when just having the right answer is what’s required.  Yet there comes a point when you can only get so far with just the answer.  People will want to know the details. 

 And to some degree isn’t that what being slow is about; that the details often hold more weight and meaning than the big picture. 

We’re bogged down with practically unbelievable and unmanageable amounts of work!  Competition for University acceptance is worse than ever and I don’t see it getting any better.  It’s not the situation that people may want things to be in, but reality is what it is.  But maybe — just maybe being aware of what’s going on could improve where we stand.

 Cheater, cheater, pumpkin-eater?  I had enough sense as a 3 year old not to like the sound of it!  Still — for some, it does have a ring to it.  

News of more acceleration in schools - only this time it’s the teachers who are being sped up. The British government today announced that in future “able candidates” can train to become teachers in just six months instead of the traditional one year.

The aim is to attract clever people who have lost their jobs in the economic downturn, especially in the financial sector. Said one government minister: “We know there are a lot of fantastic mathematicians, for example, who would have once perhaps gone into the City but now actually might be more interested in a career in teaching.”

But is this the right way to beef up the teaching ranks? I’m not so sure. Teaching is a hard job and the best teachers have a real vocation: that’s why they put up with low salaries, pushy parents and red tape.

Can we expect the same from those who colonize the classroom because they can no longer make absurdly inflated wages in the financial sector? And what happens when the economy rebounds and the City starts hiring again? How many of the fast-tracked teachers will choose to stay in the classroom?

Even if they do stay, I’m not convinced that halving the time devoted to teacher training is a good thing, even for bright candidates with lots of life experience. Just imagine if we did the same for surgeons, pilots or dentists. Learning a craft takes time. If anything, countries like Britain should be investing more energy in teacher training.

Just look at Finland. By any yardstick, it has one of most successful education systems in the world. Competition for teacher training is fierce in Finland, and those who make the cut study for five years before qualifying. Yes, five years.

Finnish teachers are so well trained that the nation holds them in high regard and trusts them to do well by its children. That means instead of dealing with endless inspections, assessments and bureaucracy, they can get down to the most important job of all: teaching.

I suppose the one benefit of speed-training teachers is that we’ll know very soon whether it works or not. My guess is that it proves to be another false economy.