In fairness, I wouldn't call letting kids
pick their own books "crazy." Debatable, but not crazy. But this
essay I ran across does seem to deserve the word. This system, called "Accelerated Reader," assigns point values to certain books. Kids rack up enough points, and they get a treat or a prize or whatever.
But look at the howling-sick points assignments, according to the
New York Times story:
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling: 44 points
- Harry Pointer and the Deathly Hallows: 34 points
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 32 points
- My Antonia, by Willa Cather: 14 points
- Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin: 13 points
- Hamlet, by Shakespeare: 7 points
I like Harry Potter, but I have a big problem with this points system. The latter three works are much more sophisticated and thematically challenging. That they would be worth fewer points strikes me as bad and wrong, ESPECIALLY when school kids are motivated to read the Potter books anyway. What is the world coming to? The
essay author, thankfully, is appalled as well.
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