It's a challenge for teachers to get any of their students excited about reading, but it might surprise you to hear that the most reluctant bookworms are boys.  The National Literacy Trust has noted that girls continue to outpace boys in their enthusiasm for reading for pleasure. Their latest study also found that nearly twice as many boys as girls said they do not enjoy reading at all, by 13% to 7%.  

So what do teachers think we need to do to ensure more boys enjoy literature? Here are some of the best ideas from our community:

"I tore through books when I was a young child, but when I turned 12 or so there was a real fallow period. I felt too old for the books I had been reading and didn't yet understand more mature texts. Things have developed a lot in the last 10 years with the rise of the young-adult fiction market, but I still think that pre-adolescent gap is where a lot of boys get lost to reading. .
 

Get dad reading

"The best role models seem to be dads, sports coaches and athletes, men the boys aspire to be. If they experience these men reading and sharing their love of books (any kind of books) then reading is not seen as a female occupation.  "Dads and lads sessions work where physical activity is balanced with shared experiences of books and reading can also work. They involve campfire cooking and opportunites to chill out, away from technology, with a good book."

Be creative

"A lot of the boys I teach are well below the reading level they should be for their age. I work at a primary behavioural emotional and social difficutlies (BESD) school in Hampshire.  "One way to get boys engaged is by being a bit creative. I invited a Pets As Therapy dog into the classroom to hear the eight boys in my class read on a weekly basis. The children really enjoy reading to Perdy the labrador, who offers a non-judgmental ear, and all the boys have gone up at least two sub-levels in their reading. During the week, the children discuss which books they think Perdy 

"Most of us dutifully do the school reading with our children when they are at primary school, hearts sinking at yet another deathless tale, but we must ask ourselves how often do our children see us reading when they are teenagers? Do we have shelves of books lining our walls? Do we take time to visit the library? If we want our children to value reading then we have to give books currency in the home.

Think about it like sport

"Explaining to boys that improving their reading is like sports training or playing an instrument can do the trick: they acknowledge the effort that needs to go into these kinds of activities; knowing the brain is like a muscle that can be trained can often help.

Build trust

"With reluctant boys it's vital to establish a relationship with them if they are to trust you. It takes time but if you can get to know what makes them tick then there are ways to change their reading habits. 

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Michael Holzman

In 1956 the House Un-American Activities Committee held hearings in Los Angeles to publicize efforts by "subversives" to repeal laws mandating imprisonment and deportation of people who disagreed with those laws. On December 6, 1956, HUAC attempted to interrogate Frank J. Whitley, a Black real estate broker.

To say that Mr. Whitley was not impressed by the committee would be an understatement of grand proportions:

Mr. Whitley. "Both of my parents were slaves here in America, and I have been persecuted ever since the day of my birth. And this committee or no other committee has taken up my cause . . . They are killing me and my people all over this country, and you know it. And you know it . . . What about Emmett Till? What about Mr. Moore in Florida a few years ago? And I don't have to go that far. I can start right in Los Angeles. The same thing is happening."

Mr. [Congressman] Doyle. "You don't charge the United States Government with killing?"

Mr. Whitley. "For doing nothing about it. That is why I charge them . . . It's been 90 years since Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. They are begging to go to school in Texas even, right here by us. What are you doing? You are searching for some subversion you talk about."

For doing nothing... I charge them.

This brings us to Atlanta, where Black teachers are now going to prison as a consequence of an unprecedented application of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Now former Atlanta Supt. Beverly Hall, who led steady improvements of the district, and teachers who worked there, were charged with a conspiracy to improve test scores by cheating.

Cheating is clearly unacceptable and absolutely wrong - a point Dropout Nation Editor RiShawn Biddle has made several times in discussing what happened in Atlanta. But it is hard to believe that the district attorney there really thought that Hall's efforts to improve achievement (as measured by test score growth) amounted to a conspiracy like fixing a horse race or issuing sub-prime loans to unqualified home buyers.

While Hall retired and shortly died, a highly emotional White judge handed out sentences of astonishing severity to the teachers and educators who were still alive. Actions that in other districts have been punished with reprimands or, at most, termination of employment, were criminalized in Atlanta.

For doing nothing... I charge them.

This sort of thing is not unusual or new in Georgia. Many African Americans were held in debt peonage there, and in neighboring states, well into the twentieth century. Compulsory schooling for Black children came late to the state and voting by the descendants of enslaved Africans even later.

But what is to be done about the police, the prosecutors and the courts? The U.S. Department of Justice is overseeing some police departments. This could be done more widely, more intensely. Similar actions could be taken in regard to district attorney offices and local courts. There is a precedent for this. It was called Reconstruction. It was effective in the South until destroyed by those who regretted the Emancipation Proclamation. Perhaps it should be given another try, this time on a nation-wide basis.

Because when it comes to our criminal justice and education systems, America can't continue to do nothing.

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Great First Sunday University!

Professor Marc Sims, seated in center, launched the Sunday University Lecture Series with an outstanding presentation on Understanding, Earning, Saving, Investing, Spending and Endowing Money.

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Questions: What if Black people could choose their own teachers and their own heroes?  What if Black people could focus on finance and institution-building rather than sports and entertainment?  What if Black people taught their children about their history and culture rather than the distractions and diversions of our society? Then you would have: 

Mark Allen - Professor from the Streets to the Suites

Kamm Howard - Professor of African-Centered Thinking, Logic and Action

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Otis Monroe - Professor of Banking Theory

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