Reading is a highly debated topic between students and teachers. Students believe that reading should not be required, but teachers know that students won’t read unless it’s required. 

“This is an instant gratification society, we want results in a snap, and reading requires time and students just don’t want to make time for that unless they have to,” Thomas Sherron, English teacher, said. 

Over time, students have learned that reading is an assignment rather than something that they may enjoy in their free time. Making reading an assignment has increased the dislike in reading. For some students’ interests tend to lie more in social media than anything that happens in a book. 

“I think a lot of people don’t like to read because they have never found something that interests them and so they see it as a chore. I try really hard to find something that they would like but kids aren’t willing to find that,” Angie Tauer, English teacher, said. 

When reading started to become assigned, many students never found something that they actually wanted to read. Tauer believes that this may be part of the reason that many students have given up on reading. 

“I for one didn’t like to read when I was in high school either. I didn’t find enjoyment in reading until I was an adult. Finding a genre that I liked was what led me to read again, and for me that was murder mysteries, but other it might be romance novels, it’s so personal,” Tauer added. 

Students overwhelmingly do not enjoy reading. Many struggle to focus on a book, or are even too busy to fit it into their schedules. 

“I really only read when I’m forced to because I really don’t enjoy it. I have such a short attention span that it really doesn’t fill my time well,” Lizzie Conner, 10, said. 

Conner agrees that having assigned reading throughout school has grown her distaste for reading. Having a short attention span leads many kids away from reading. Many feel that teachers are forcing them to do something they don’t enjoy and lead them to struggle with their attention span more. 

“When I read “Wonder”, I really enjoyed it. The first time I read it, it was read to me which made me enjoy it way more than I would have if I had read it on my own. I think if teachers had us read in groups of kids with similar interests to us, I would enjoy reading so much better,” Conner said.