In an article in The Telegraph last week, British Education Secretary Michael Gove called for teachers in England to encourage their students to read at least 50 books a year, claiming that academic rigor in England has been faltering for too long. The majority of British teens read 1-2 novels a year. As with any student, the best time to foster a passion for reading is best done early. Gove makes a striking comparison between the students in Britain and those of NYC Charter Schools, noting that even kids from low-income communities read more than many British students, regardless of their limited access to books. He says, “The aspiration for someone to read 50 books a year isn’t from a school in the poshest part of Manhattan where they are all going to have bound copies of CS Lewis, this is a school where 83 per cent of the kids are on the equivalent of free school meals, but they still expect them to read 50 books a year.” Gove’s service to as Education Secretary is not without controversy, but one must acknowledge his efforts to improve in the future.

Part of Gove’s comment reflects age-old stereotypes that the wealthier classes are much more educated. I believe that part of what is occurring now in schools is a sort of backlash against modern technology. Literacy and reading have been brought to the forefront of the educational debate, particularly with programs such as Teach For America that brings its own literacy-based methodology to lower income schools. When you think about it, 50 books does seem like an awful lot, considering the amount of time students now spend on the internet, either on Facebook, YouTube, or other similar sites. Part of the issue is that they lose an intrinsic part of childhood and education as they move away from books and other physical forms of literature, such as magazines or newspapers. Life becomes much more abbreviated, limited to what can be fit in a Facebook status or a 140 character tweet. Children lose the opportunity to create an individual experience and imaginary world when they rely solely on visual interpretations offered in films.

Educators and the media have noted this decline in book consumption for the past few years and trends continue to point towards the internet. Considering the fact that kids under the age of 13 now own cell phones or electronic tablets, every aspect of a child’s development is impacted by technology. Furthermore, another point Gove makes that is particularly important is that educators and parents work towards convincing students to read books for more than just exams; one concern the Education Secretary had is that students only read 1-2 books a year, in order to prepare for the GCSE, a state exam similar to our SATs.

On the flipside, however, in the United States, eBook sales within the teen fiction market have done particularly well, according to the NYTimes. What might account for this success is the attraction to eReaders and similar devices. Perhaps the best way to address the drop in reading, at least among different groups of kids, is to find a good way to promote eBooks to educators as educationally valuable. One interviewee said, ““There’s something I’m not sure is entirely replaceable about having a stack of inviting books, just waiting for your kids to grab…but I’m an avid believer that you need to find what excites your child about reading. So I’m all for it.”

Part of our mission at Speakaboos is to foster a love for reading based on traditional stories and characters, in a modern way. The storybook videos invite kids to read along with the stories and oftentimes, hearing a story aloud can help children develop greater oratory skills. Like many other people, I don’t believe that there will ever be a good replacement for a physical book. Few things can completely replace the experience of changing pages (and possibly getting papercuts!) or the overall interaction. On a level, it is separate from watching and hearing a story on a digital screen, in that reading is much more active. That said, life sometimes gets in the way. Reading does take time – and some parents just don’t have that. Electronic readers, tablets, and/or iPhones with book Apps may prove useful to those who want to encourage their children to read but can’t sit to help teach their kids how to pronounce each words. That’s where narrated eBooks come in.

Related posts:

1. Study reveals secret to getting kids to read over the summer
2. World Read Aloud Day: Celebrating Early Literacy
3. Gender stereotypes in education – will boys be boys?
4. Importance of early reading up for debate
5. Refining No Child Left Behind: Obama’s Education Reforms