Spur-of-the-moment type post here.

Anyone who’s gone through any type of formal schooling will understand me on this one. The subject lies within the realm of school reading assignments. Since elementary school, reading assignments have been given to both you and me alike. Now, these assignments were never too big of a deal. They weren’t too difficult, either. They’d be something along the lines of “read chapter 10″ in some social studies textbook. Cool. That’s not too bad. I’ll give that a shot. I’ll go out with that.

Time progressed and we grew older. Suddenly, “English” class turns into “Literature” class and these odd bricks of paper called “novels” are introduced. Sweet Christ.

High school was really the turning point here. I can’t remember if I had to do any summer reading in elementary school (maybe those of whom went to school with me can help me out with that one), but I sure as hell did in high school. It was reading 3-4 novels throughout the summer, and then writing about them. Not my idea of a relaxing summer. But that’s not the point. That was high school; that is long gone. Or is it?

Up until recently, I haven’t gotten a huge amount of reading homework in college. It just wasn’t something that was assigned. If I did get some reading, it was done without any fuss; it wasn’t such a daunting task. I don’t know why this was — maybe it was the classes I had chosen; maybe I just got lucky with teachers who didn’t focus on too much reading. Who knows. I just didn’t get too much reading.

The first dose of hardcore reading I had to do was for a seminar-type class (read: forced discussion) on “Multiculturalism.” I had no idea what that class entailed, but it was either I enroll in THAT or “History of Knitting in Latin America” (or something along those lines). Turns out the class was called “Multiculturalism and the American Novel.” Yikes. So I understand why I had to read a bit more for that class. Even then, it wasn’t too bad. I ended that school year without much reading to do.

Come this quarter, and I’m getting reamed with the stuff. And it’s no walk in the park. For anyone who’s taken a philosophy or history class, you know what I’m talking about. I’ve got both of those this quarter. Reading philosophy is akin to reading Olde English: you don’t know what the hell is going on without the help of a third party (read: SparkNotes). It’s something you have to sit down and really concentrate on in order to understand. But when 60+ pages are assigned for one night, it’s tough to even garner up the effort of opening the book. Essentially, it leads the student to find ways to bypass reading such a lengthy assignment. Because, in the end, reading something word for word is just a waste. Sure, it’s important if you’re planning on basing your future career around it, but otherwise, it’s just a waste of time. Honestly, it is. Nobody is going to read such an assignment word-for-word. There’s just not enough hours in the day. On top of that, students have other classes to attend to. Sometimes I wonder if teachers acknowledge that fact. We’ve got more classes than just yours, prof. Ease up a bit.

Now, I’m not complaining. This is just something I’ve noticed. I’ve got no problem with these assignments because, as I mentioned earlier, I found ways to circumvent them. But it’s just ridiculous how much some of these professors expect you to read so much in such little time and then summarize and retain it. It’s unrealistic. For example, let me quote my US history syllabus:

“Allow adequate time to prepare readings and assignments OUTSIDE of class. For college-level work, allow three hours of reading and preparation outside of class for every hour of class time. [sic](This is standard for college-level work both at ********* University and nationwide, by the way.)”

Three hours for every one hour? Please. Find me one person who does that. And how is that standard? Who conjured this expectation? Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. Other professors have spouted this wild expectation as well. And honestly, I didn’t follow through with that and still passed. I can’t speak for everyone, but I doubt anyone in my US history class is reading that much before class, if at all. Just recently, I was forced into a group discussion of the reading due for a given class. The guy with whom I was paired admitted to not reading the assignment at all. Neither had I. We had something in common.

The point is, no student if going to read for three hours about something that can be summarized in a few paragraphs. And with summaries available to us online, you’d be a fool not to take advantage of that. For me, it’s not even a case of laziness (well, not primarily). It’s because I just don’t have time. When there are other things that take priority like a job and actual written assignments, reading takes a back seat. It just doesn’t make itself out to be something you have to do. Clearly, people are passing these classes without reading the material, so what’s the point? I hate to have to ask that question, because it really shows a weakness of formal schooling (not that I’m too big a fan of it anyway). Having such a ridiculous expectation for students has just led them to circumvent the system — to find a way around doing the unnecessary work. But more power to them. If they can find a way to pass with flying colors without reading the material, bravo. I salute these people. Most teachers I’ve come into contact with don’t even create their own tests or quizzes. They rely on mass-produced resources. So why then, are we wasting our time reading hundreds of pages (on subjects that are nowhere near interesting)? The same history professor that promotes three hours of reading a night uses questions from the textbook’s online quizzes. Verbatim. Not only that, but it’s multiple choice. Again, no complaints from me. If someone has the capacity to figure this out, great. You’ve beaten one system. Keep it up.

This is the first real rant I’ve written for MOAR PLOX!!1!. I didn’t mean for it to turn out this way, but I guess it just happened. I write this in response to how little time I have recently (on account of job + school + homework). Reading assignments really aren’t at the top of my list. In fact, it’s for those very reasons that I haven’t posted something in a while. But I’m not going to fall back into that slump of not posting something for months. In the end, I’m no fan of reading assignments. Especially lengthy ones that are unnecessary. I must say, though, that the absence of summer reading is a big relief. I am thankful for that bit. It’s just that I’d like some time to do my own things. I don’t want to have to read 100+ pages about how Thomas Jefferson preferred agriculture over domestic manufacturing. In fact, I’d much rather stick my dick in a blender (I was serious for the whole post up until now. Damn.)

As of writing this post, I have 100+ pages to read in a book that’s meant to be a reference. For tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 2:24 am and is filed under College, Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.