Opinion by KatieZinna

Everybody knows that feeling of dread you get when a teacher assigns your class a book to read. When you have to read for two hours every night, take quizzes over different chapters, remember random quotes, write an essay about the book you’re reading or partake in a book discussion where you don’t even understand what your classmates are talking about, well, it’s no mystery as to why some students start to hate reading. 

As a person who loves to read, even I struggle with school books and assigned reading, especially ones over topics I have no interest in. Almost every school book I have read in high school so far has been about war, religion, overall dreary topics or it was written by some old guy named Shakespeare. 

I feel like school books should inspire us. They should make us dream bigger, fill us with hope or maybe even have a happy ending (because seriously, I can’t remember the last school book I read that had an actual happy ending).

I’m so tired of analyzing why someone sacrificed themselves or why the author felt like they needed to write about some terrible event. 

I know it’s important to learn how to analyze topics like these and learn how to form our own opinions about them, but can’t we read at least a couple of books that will maybe leave us feeling happier rather than just  “oh, okay, the book ended and the guy just died and everyone is sad”? 

I feel reading books I’m interested in would inspire me to read more outside of class. I have no interest in reading books that are a couple hundred years old or where there is no happy ending. So when we read books like that in class, I get so mentally drained that I can’t even think about reading another book. 

I know not everyone feels this way. I know some people are interested in topics like the Holocaust or enjoy reading Shakespeare, which are very common texts in English classes. All I have to say to you guys is that I am so jealous and I wish I had an interest in books like that. It would make my English class so much more fun and interesting.

But I also know that there are a lot of other students out there who just aren’t interested in content like this and struggle to find the motivation to read their assigned chapters (trust me, you guys aren’t alone).  

Because of all the tests, essays and discussions, I feel like students aren’t focused on the actual book they are reading. They are more focused on what the main plot points are and finding the best way to memorize random quotes. 

I feel like having a wider range of assigned reading would allow students to find what genre of books they enjoy and motivate them to start reading outside of class. 

It’s so much easier (and a lot more fun) to remember, finish or discuss a book that you have fallen in love with and can’t put down.