Avoid the summer slide
Although summer reading is a pain — particularly when we find ourselves procrastinating the day before school starts — it has its benefits. As much as the student body might hate to admit it, the reading does keep our minds fresh amid three months of relaxation.
The reading also aids in efficiency upon return to the Upper School. Rather than having to read another book in the fall, students jump right into meaningful conversations. From there, classes can cover more material during the rest of the course.
Additionally, as a student browses the English summer reading list, there is a possibility they will happen upon a novel that excites them, especially given the sheer size of the list. So if a student decides that “The Man Who Lived Underground” — a story about a man who is tortured until confessing to a crime he didn’t commit — sounds interesting, then this is their chance to read it! But if another student would prefer the somehow even more daunting “Station Eleven,” a tale of “a flu pandemic that wipes out the majority of the world’s population,” then that is an option, as well.
While they aren’t all sunshine and rainbows, these books are a refreshing step away from Shakespeare and Gatsby, among other heavy classics. They expose students to books beyond those typically explored in the classroom, which produces a well-rounded student body.
Read at your own risk
Although summer reading might have its few benefits, the work is by no means necessary. First off, why on earth is there so much of it? As the work accumulates across science, world language, history and English classes, it adds stress to what is deemed a vacation.
On top of that, the required reading is frankly depressing. For example, “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” covers schizophrenia, “The Mayor of Casterbridge” is about a man who sells his wife and “Sacred Hunger” discusses people who purchase slaves. We deal with enough heavy books during the school year. Summer should be a time to discover lighthearted works that step away from the typical classics. The list should contain books that will not cause students to build up resentment for reading.
Additionally, English classes opting to use pass/fail essays as the sole method of analyzing our reading is the fundamental flaw of summer work. After spending a significant amount of time reading a novel, we would like to actually apply our learning via projects, presentations or by relating our summer reading to the material throughout the rest of the school year (shoutout to Mr. Williams, as his British Literature class does this very well). A pass/fail essay makes our summer reading feel like busy work, quickly forgotten after the first day of school.
