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For: Madeleine Wong, 17, German Swiss International School
If schools were to set a requirement for the number of books students had to read, I might welcome it, even if it was just one book per month. Then, I would have the pleasure of knowing that any student I meet would be sharing the same extra burden of a monthly reading list.
I do not envy complete uniformity, but I sometimes envy the shared experiences that come with it. In many ways, our generation lacks that – other than the exams we might take during certain months of the year, I have no idea whether I share any similarities with my peers.
We often discuss topics with no depth beyond our similar complaints about schoolwork and a flicker of recognition when we come across the same meaningless brain rot reels on Instagram.
The collective stress of exam-taking can be a dull commonality. I seek a deeper connection with the people of my generation. I can imagine how having books in our lives might bring out the best in us. It would add to our culture.
Even when we have seen, read or thought about something deeper, we might hesitate to bring it up at the lunch table because we are not sure that the subject matter is part of the culture we hope to belong to. A reading list – though it may be a begrudged one at first – might change that for the better. At least we wouldn’t have to wonder about whether we share the experience of reading or not.
There is another benefit to having to read a certain number of books a month: we could save some great books from obscurity. Perhaps Hong Kong’s bookstores could also make a comeback from obsolescence.
There are so many books that it’s no wonder that many students don’t know what to read. Therefore, I think it would be nice to have teachers, with our help, decide where to start. We could then rate books until we have a reliable list of book recommendations.
Different people will learn different things, even from reading the same books. But I hope that through reading every month, students will learn not only to see books as more than a difficult chore, but as a way to open their eyes to the world, think about meaningful things and talk about them. Books should not be a thing of the past.
Against: Miya Zhang, 18, St Paul’s School (US)
Reading is undoubtedly an important part of a student’s education. Therefore, it may seem beneficial for their learning if they are required to read a certain number of books per month. However, a mandatory quota would fail to promote the true purposes of reading, such as encouraging students’ curiosity and a lifelong interest in learning.
By imposing quotas, schools risk transforming what should be an enjoyable activity into an unavoidable chore. Rather than helping students develop good reading habits, making it a requirement may have the negative effect of discouraging students from truly taking their time to enjoy books.
Furthermore, quotas based on the number of books read in a month prioritise quantity over quality. Schools should champion comprehensive reading, where students do their best to truly understand every passage instead of rushing through chapters to try to finish a book as quickly as possible.
Students should also be encouraged to reflect and think about what they have read. All this takes additional time outside the act of reading itself. A person under pressure to read a certain number of books in a month will ultimately choose not to do these things and fail to receive the true benefits of reading.
A quota would also create unnecessary time constraints, as it stops students from spending as much time with each book as they might like. Not all books are created equal, and simply counting the number of books finished fails to take this into account.
Students may be deterred from pursuing longer, more challenging works in favour of shorter, lighter reads to satisfy a quota’s requirements. Students may even select books that are too easy for their level because they hope to go through them quickly. Their language skills would not improve under such an arrangement, which should be a major goal of reading in the first place.
In today’s technology-driven world, there are other media outside of novels that encourage reading as a habit and skill. For example, an interesting article or research paper may be just as helpful for a student, allowing them to explore their interests.
While reading should be part of a well-rounded education, a book quota is not the best approach. Requiring a student to read a set number of books each month does not guarantee they will learn or even develop an interest in reading outside the classroom. It also fails to reward students who pursue longer works.
