Reading as Opposed to Literature Class

Hat Tip: Ed Wonks Carnival of Education #45

Tim Fredrick posed a question as to why kids don't like to read. He answered his question with the concept of choice, i.e. that kids have no choice in their school reading material, thus are uninterested in reading. As Tim writes:

It's time we English teachers end our tyranny over books and allow students to read books of their choosing. This requires that we restructure our classrooms and how we teach. This is good! It allows us to focus on the skills of reading - the skills we should be teaching in order to help students become better readers in life -- and to continue reading even when it is not shoved down their throats.

snip

Put an end to ...
(1) book reports - even the "fun" ones that we know aren't fun at all unless you already love reading and ELA class
(2) reading quizzes
(3) tests about a book
(4) reading a book because it was the teacher's favorite
(5) reading a book because somebody (Lord knows who) decided it was "good"

Save students from bad English teaching!

My question is, when did the teaching of reading--a skill, become the teaching of literature--a subject matter? There is a vast range of reading skills because reading is more than just fiction, plays and poetry. Effective readers also know how to read and interpret science, history, and yes, even mathematics. But because kids only real exposure to the skills of reading (at least when I was in school oh so many years ago) was in English class.

The problem with teaching reading skills is the simple fact that the teaching of reading occurs almost exclusively in the English Classroom. English is a vitally important subject which should include reading instruction. But so too should history classes, science classes, art classes, etc. Each subject area has certain reading skills that need to be developed, but aren't because reading skills are not taught in that class.

For example, reading science texts takes a different set of reading comprehension skills, since connections must be followed carefully. In reading literature, inference and assumptions need to be examined to understand the author's intent. We have assumed that because English, as a subject involves lots of reading and writing that it is the only place where reading skills can be taught. Simply hogwash.

As for Tim's point about providing choice in literature class needs to be addressed. Such an idea is fine--to a point. Students need to have a little structure and I don't think that requiring reading of Shakespeare, Twain, Homer, Poe, Whitman, Checkov and Chaucer and many other writers from around the world and history is a bad thing--literature is about exposure to different stories, cultures, and texts. Letting kids have completely free rein about the books the read will not accomplish what a literature class should--critical thinking about a text.

Reading skills should not be the sole purview of the English teacher, but every teacher of children.