The Book I Read

The Jazz Bus: The Book I Read…
One of all time favorite albums is Talking Heads: 77. Prior to its major label vinyl release I had watched the band perform at a few venues in Manhattan, purchased a few of their indie singles, and waited patiently for the official release date of their first major label release. Bingo got it day one. Listened to it constantly and it became one of my first CD purchases when I hit that techno phase, Jimi Hendrix RADIO ONE being the other that day. This piece has nothing to do with T Heads, except stealing a song title, THE BOOK I READ.
The other day a minor story in the newspaper was written about high school seniors who are currently reading below levels established in 1992; a poor 288 points out of 500 in reading comprehension. While this is slightly above last year’s average it is still…wait a minute here, a reading test. Remembering back to my days in school the last thing I cared about was a test “that did not count”. Pretty diagrams I made out of the scantrons sheet blanks, always choosing “all of the above”, while never opting for “none of the above”. I didn’t care about having a correct answer. Why did these educators waste my time with a stupid test that doesn’t count for me? The questions should be “What did Johnny learn today and does he read on his own?”
Standardized testing must be a killer for our kids. Every year in elementary school another test that does not count for graduation, then Regents in high school, which is a bit more serious, then SAT/ACT, test, test, test. But, what does this test really evaluate?
During high school I was “required” to read a book, GIANTS IN THE EARTH by O.E.Rolvaag. I was and still am an avid reader but have maintained a personal philosophy of when reading a book if it is going nowhere for me, use it as kindling wood in the fireplace. GIANTS was going nowhere for me, seemed to be a long drawn-out reworking of The STORY of JOB except this family was ever so slowly moving through the Dakota prairie. I voiced my opinion in class and was subsequently called to task by the teacher who phoned my dad for a “meeting”. While I was trying to negotiate an agreement where I would read three other books but not GIANTS, the teacher firmly said “no, that one or nothing. You’ll need that one on the Regents.” At our “meeting” I reiterated my dislike of “the classic” but no one, including Pop budged. I calmly said, “I’ll take the zero now”, which I got. GIANTS never came up on the Regents but in my essays I did use references to other books I read which were not “required” reading .I passed the Regents with flying colors, while not faring so well on the course grade. However, then as opposed to now, you got the higher grade listed on “your permanent record”.
My point is simple, have kids read because they want to. jazzbus@gmail.com