*Title from Jackson Pearce's post on the subject
Ok, so I am going to rant today, I don't typically rant on this blog, but since this is relevant, and I see it all of the time I am going to.
So in my English class we are studying Fahrenheit 451 and my teacher started asking if society is no longer reading, and some of my classmates said that people don't really read very often. Well my teacher started going off and saying that people read now more than they did in the last 20 yrs or so. But most of what they read is junk. Now reading a magazine or something on the internet is not really "reading" so ok. But then he started saying how there had been an increase in sales from people who are 30 yrs old and up. So then I mentioned that in the last couple of decades there has been basically a whole new genre born in YA literature. And he like totally cut me off saying "yes but most of that cannot be considered reading ect." And really and truly it made me really, really mad. How people say that people who are reading Young Adult literature are not really reading. They are just trying to be entertained. Ok so I want to be entertained what's wrong with that! I am still reading! I can be entertained by the television and that's not reading so how are those the same thing!
Another comment he made was that the quality of Young Adult literature is not as good because the authors have to dumb down their writing and they cannot use their vocabularies in Young Adult novels. This really pissed me off because that is completely uncalled for. I am sorry but personally, I have a larger vocabulary than a lot of people older than me. And in case he hadn't noticed Teens really get mad when authors "dumb down" their books for us. We are acting members of society, we are not five year olds, we can think and we do not like to be treated like little children.
Basically what he did was tell me that, even though I consider myself an avid reader, nothing I am reading is worth looking at, and that I am basically wasting my time! He was bashing the whole YA community. One of the reasons that this made me so mad was because he is not the only one by a long shot. Hundreds of people believe that YA literature is not worth reading see Jackson Pearce's video on the subject. And I believe that as a high school English teacher he should understand that YA literature of today should not be totally dismissed and not even called reading, ok so not all of it will become literary classics but they are still books, and as long as I am reading, what does it really matter?
What do you think? Did I miss anything important? Have you ever encountered someone like this? Please let me know! Also sorry for ranting but I needed to hear from people who would understand. Thanks for reading/listening!
