The Ridiculousness of Summer Reading

G.D. Robles

Yeah yeah, we get it. Schools want to keep us engaged. They don’t want us to forget what we learned the last year, they don’t want us to degenerate into something dysfunctional, yada yada yada, so on and so forth. We get it. But still, why?

Why force us to read something that we likely don’t care to read and force us to take notes on it? What good is that going to do for us? Wouldn’t it just end up working better if you let us read of our own volition?

I ended up reading “Fist Stick Knife Gun,” by Geoffrey Canada for my lovely summer reading project. I’ll admit, it was an incredible book, however I got stuck with the stupid idea of taking notes on every little detail that I can. Incredible book, less incredible assignment. I would do one on my free time and the other subconsciously as I did the former. In other words, you shouldn’t have to force me to do such an assignment. Just hint at the idea, and don’t force it on me, then I’d do it. I’m sure other people feel the same.

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