When you walk into any English class at Cardinal Mooney you’ll see a familiar setting: a book case with novels in it, students flipping through pages, and someone asking “did you actually read the pages that were assigned?” Between jobs,sports, phones, the concept of reading seems to be fading away.
Some teachers might say they notice students relying on videos, summaries, or chats with their friends to get through assignments. Students say it’s not that they dislike reading, but it’s that they don’t have the attention or the time like they used to.
To get a student perspective, I talked to Jazon Azar, a Cardinal Mooney senior who was truthful about how reading actually fits into his life. Jason said he does think that students are reading less. After getting home from work, he said the last thing students would want to do is read forty pages for class. He tries to keep up, but sometimes he just ends up skimming the summaries to stay on top. Reading for entertainment disappeared for him. He said he used to love it when he was younger, but now with his free time he spends time with his friends or just relaxing.
When I asked him what would make reading more fun for him, Jason said shorter books. When a book that feels outdated or not relatable to teens lives, it’s hard to care about. Even though he thinks all that, he does know that reading is important. It helps you get a different view of life, he said, and just hopes that school would meet the students in the middle.
Senior Jason Azar, Studying English. Taken by DariOna Coman