Why won't Johnny read (a/k/a my blood is semi-boiling)?

Came across today's post by Miss Kitty and I shook my head in sad, sober acknowledgment.

I have cut way back on reading assignments in all my classes--even lit. classes, which I seldom teach anymore because...I got sick of students not doing the reading. I'm not a sociological expert so am genuinely wondering why so many of mine still don't do it, even with the constant threat of quizzes and other grades.

One answer is they have not made a lifelong habit of it and therefore see no need to start now; perhaps this is part of the strategy to skate by. Another answer for a smaller set of them is that they have an undiagnosed learning disability and it's painful and/or difficult. A third answer is they never had parents or teachers who emphasized its importance. A fourth answer is that they simply don't see the importance of it, or the joy of it, and that's most discouraging of all.

Yet another answer is that they don't make the time for it, and reading requires time and space and attention and isolation. Having taught college success last fall, I know that words make their way into our brains at a slower pace than TV images into our eyes.

But now to ditch fairness mode, I'm pissed right along with Miss K. I wanted to reach through the monitor and smack those students upside the head. My equivalent experience is also from a lit-based class, when I'd assigned "Paul's Case" by Cather for the first time and had made careful notes and discussion points, and had prepared a quiz just in case. And in fact, I'm sure I'd announced the possibility of a quiz the previous meeting.

So I gave the quiz at the beginning of class, saw how few were writing, and started seething. Made it through 10-15 minutes, getting responses from perhaps three or four students, and adjourned early without going on a rant. We went on to the next story the next time, and they were still responsible for "Paul's Case" on the final exam.

God, how good it felt to end class early because I was pissed at them and to not try to slog through the mud like a good soldier.

I guess many students will continue to not read for eternity, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't stiil require it. As for me, I don't assign as much as I probably should. If I taught only one or two courses a term, you can bet I'd require a metric ton more.