People tend to fall out of love with reading early on due to mandatory scholastic reading assignments, but the reason people quit picking up books is often much more nuanced.

Many students at Camas High School (CHS) say that assigned reading makes them want to read books less. They feel this can be attributed to the pressure of looming due dates and quizzes or the fact that the books are purely uninteresting.

“Personally, assigned reading makes me less eager to read because I’m not doing it by choice,” sophomore Aminah Usmani said. “Assigned reading makes people less inclined to read because it starts to feel more like a chore.” 

Though many students would rather avoid reading, some enjoy the assignments because they are introduced to books they would not have otherwise read. Knowing that they will get quizzed on their reading later helps them give the book their full attention.

“I do not think assigned reading makes people fall out of love with reading. I usually enjoy the books we read and really get into them,” sophomore Inka Byman said. “I think [the assignments] help me read more because otherwise I would not be able to find the time to read [throughout] my day.”

Both sides argue over reading assignments. Many students think finding the right book will guarantee interest, while others dislike assigned reading due to time constraints for a particular number of pages. 

“Assigned reading did not make me lose interest as a student. There were books I had to read to see if we would teach it that I hated, but it did not make me lose my love of reading,” CHS English teacher Tom Sawyer said. “You just need to find that one book. I found mine in 6th grade. I hated reading until then, and after that book, I thought that reading was cool. Even though I’ve had to read some pretty bad books, none of them made me lose my love of reading.” 

Sawyer also mentioned that his school had sustained silent reading (SSR), which helped students get into reading more. In the first couple weeks of the school year, students would resist it, but later on, students would grab their books and get straight to it. Sawyer highly encourages SSR to be provided in all schools.

Despite proponents, 4 out of 10 people said assigned reading makes them lose interest in the subject, leading to questions about its effectiveness in student learning.