I read with interest the May 30 letter from student Whitney Welch, bemoaning her school’s summer reading list assignment and her lack of input into its makeup. When I attended high school in the late ’60s, we were supplied each year with a reading list that contained one book for each week of summer vacation. Titles I remember include “Treasure Island,” “A Tale of Two Cities,” “The Jungle” and, much to our South Side parents’ chagrin, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.”
None of these would have appeared on the list of a typical 9th grader had we been given choice in the selection. To ensure we remembered the main points, another issue that concerns Ms. Welch, book reports had to be written concurrently and were due the first day of class.
When I made the suggestion that our school district might benefit from the same requirement, I was turned down on the grounds that kids are too busy over the summer to complete such rigorous assignments.
I applaud Ms. Welch’s school district for its attempt to raise the level of cultural literacy among its students.
