By: Ally Ener

A lot of college students hate reading. Or, at least, they hated required reading in high school. TLU students that responded to a survey reported a 56% average satisfaction rating with what they read in high school. While that’s not terrible, it’s not fantastic either. Reading books for school shouldn’t be something that students tolerate at best and hate at worst. Of course, there are many students who love reading and had no issues with it in school, but these students are usually not the majority. Not everyone is an English major. So, if it’s possible to make reading more enjoyable to more people, why shouldn’t we at least look into it?

Many junior and senior students at TLU felt that something could have been done to make them enjoy reading in school more. Most commonly, students suggested that having the opportunity to choose the books that they had to read would have improved their experience. When asked what could have made him like reading in school more, Vianney Rivera Santiago, a senior information science major, said, “Just having choices for the kids. Have them [the teachers] be, like, ‘Hey, what kind of literature do you like? Alright, we’ll find a book that’s your skill level and then read that one.’”

Whether or not it’s actually possible for teachers to give their students choice in their readings, it is still something that could be looked into. Getting students engaged in the reading can be a difficult task, especially when they feel “forced” into it. “When it was forced upon me, I skimmed it. I didn’t want to read it. I was just like, I’m doing this because I have to, and I’m only doing it in class to make sure it looks like I’m doing something,” said Celia Garcia, a junior accounting major.

Mostly, students wanted to enjoy the books that they had to read, and if something didn’t interest them, they often reacted in an obvious way: by not reading. “If it doesn’t catch your interest within the first two chapters, you’re not going to read it. You’re going to put it down, you’re going to try to get the answers from another source or try to Google the answers just to try to get an insight of the book,” said junior accounting major Dometria Bellamy.

Getting students interested in reading can be difficult, and providing choices was the most common solution that students could immediately think of to combat this issue. However, one student mentioned that even though he was given a choice on what he read in high school, he still disliked reading because he felt discouraged by his teachers. When asked what could have made his experience with required reading better, Nick Sanders, a junior computer science major, said, “Allowing us to have our own free will expressed, and allow us to have our own interpretations, and not be told, ‘Yeah, that’s not right because that’s not what I’m thinking it is.’” Overall, students really wanted to feel included in the readings, and they suggested that providing choices in the readings and encouraging them more in class would have helped this.

Despite all of their grievances and suggestions, students’ experiences with reading weren’t all bad. A few students noted that they appreciated how reading in school introduced them to new books that they wouldn’t have otherwise read but ended up really enjoying. Additionally, almost every student could recall at least one book from high school that they really enjoyed. “Ender’s Game was really good. I liked that the book had a fast-paced plot, and it was a really interesting story. It was kind of different from stuff I’m used to reading,” said Kristen Barho, a senior majoring in psychology.

The fact that so many juniors and seniors in college still remembered books that they read in high school shows that reading had at least some impact on them. Maybe it’s not possible for students to love everything they read in school, but if they can remember at least a few books and come away with a greater appreciation for reading, then that could be considered a success. Still, many students remembered what they disliked about required reading before they could remember what they liked, so there is still room for improvement.

Often, students just needed more motivation to want to read. This could come in the form of giving them a choice between books or simply giving them a little extra encouragement. Sometimes, though, students also need to look within themselves for more motivation, or they could miss out. When asked what would have made him read more in school, junior molecular biology major Jeff Angel said, “Maybe if my current self went to my past self and was like, ‘Hey, read this!’ Because I’ve reread some books that were assigned to me previously that were actually really good that I regretted not reading.”