It’s the same old story every year. The school year is just about over, and summer is right around the corner. You have worked hard all year to enjoy your summer stress free. But then you get assigned summer reading, and complain the whole summer why you are reading when you should be enjoying yourself.

For years, students have been required to participate in summer reading. To most students, summer reading appears as a waste of time and kids constantly find themselves asking “How is this helping me”,  and teachers will argue reading over the summer improves a student’s academic abilities. Nevertheless there has been controversy over keeping summer reading in tact at the high school.

Several problems have occurred since this summer reading program has started. Prior to this year, students were required to write a 5 paragraph essay about the summer reading book of their choice. The essay would count as a quiz or test grade in the students English class. However, the problem with these essays were students could easy make up information or not write essays to their best of abilities, yet still receive 100%’ s for adequate work. Another problem is students could easily copy off other student’s essays, as well as research information on websites such as Sparknotes to access information on their book.

Another problem that has emerged in with the summer reading program is the lack of effectiveness. Students being required to read specific books for a test grade never helps overall reading levels. Students will focus less on reading the book and more on how they will write the essay. The purpose of summer reading is to boost the overall reading level and interest of students, not to determine a person’s writing ability.

Overall, the Summer Reading program at TMHS should be put in consideration for removal or a complete revision. Students have shown a lack of interest in the program, and every year there continues to be a lack of effectiveness in the program. Students have tended to state they would much rather read a book of their choice, rather than only be given a small selection. One possible alternative for summer reading is choose one book an entire grade will read, and use the book at the start of the year for discussion, assessment, and analysis of the book. Another alternative is completely removing the summer reading. If students decide it is not within their best interest to read a book over the summer, the students should have the right to do that.