I went to a private boy’s school. 12 books every Summer, and test on them! Some of the I hated reading! Pilgrim’s Progress, etc. But I had to!
You got off so easy! I had to read The Pilgrims’s Progress in the 8th grade.
I fell into the “Slough of Despond” that year... just hated that book! The teacher made it even worse with overly pedantic questions quizzes, discussions and interpretations.
“I went to a private boy’s school. 12 books every Summer, and test on them! Some of the I hated reading! Pilgrim’s Progress, etc. But I had to!”
And you’re a better person - or at least a better educated person - for having done it. I thank God I grew up in the age before ubiquitous cable TV, the internet, and cell phones. I watched plenty of broadcast TV but I also read like crazy. My parents had little money and used the local public library’s books for cheap entertainment. We always had books and good magazines in the house. Any parent in the first world who isn’t actively trying to make their kids into voracious readers is a neglectful parent.
My child is going into 1st grade next year and has a reading list for the summer.
The school is private and conservative, so I was surprised that many of the books focused on social justice and brown people being oppressed: MLK, the 1st black ballerina, etc.
My position is that those topics are wholly inappropriate and irrelevant to preparing young people to life and reality. Not just 1st graders, but any age group. It’s divisive racial propaganda that ultimately demeans white people.
Then I saw that the list was taken from the surrounding PUBLIC school district.
Somebody got lazy. I don’t know if I want to raise a stink. I haven’t even met the teacher.
All I know is that I am obligated to protect my children from this repulsive cancer.