27% of 17-year-olds never or hardly ever read for pleasure. In 2018 and 2020, a similar study reported that the average high school student has about three hours of homework per night. When I learned this, I wondered if it was true for my school. I have loved to read since I learned how, but I noticed that when I got to high school, I read less than I did when I was younger. At Waynflete, we have a large library and many passionate teachers and librarians. In English classrooms, multitudes of books are stacked like the leaning tower of Pisa. There are even shelves of books in my French classroom. So, are those statistics accurate for Waynflete? Does Waynflete encourage its students to read? If not, why?

 

In my quest to find the answer, I interviewed Emily Graham, the librarian at Waynflete. Of the statistics, she said she felt that it was more likely to be 10-15% of students who never or hardly ever read for pleasure, but she agreed that students tended to have three hours of homework per night. Emily encourages students to come into the library and find a good book, but she recognizes that for some students, especially in junior year, it simply isn’t possible to find time to read. She told me, “I watch [reading] ebb and flow with students who are real readers in middle school, and that definitely drops off in ninth and tenth grade. And junior year is probably like this abyss, and then they sort of have more time and are able to climb out of it more [at the] end of junior year and senior year, and then into college.” An avid reader herself, she believes that all students would read if they had the time. It’s only a matter of homework load and other responsibilities that keeps students away from reading. 

 

One of the ways she encourages students to find time to read is by encouraging them to read over school breaks. She explained, “[s]ometimes before long weekends, and then also before holiday breaks, I will do a reading promotion. I'll make an announcement at assembly or I'll have treats in the library and special eBooks I've displayed that I think students might be interested in.” Another way Emily encourages students to read is by promoting audiobooks––as she put it, encouraging an “alternative way for them to engage with literature.” “A lot of students do workouts or they have driving time, or, you know, they have chores at home,” she told me, so that makes audiobooks very helpful, “even when [the students] don't have the time to sit down and read.”

 

After talking with Emily, I asked John Radway, the chair of Waynflete’s English department, if he thought those statistics were accurate. He believed that they were, and thought the number seemed encouraging, and that “[it’s interesting] to think that almost three-quarters of people are choosing [to read].” Of Waynflete encouraging students to read, he said, “[w]e try very hard not to force [reading] on people because you can force fun … if you force fun, you’re teaching people how to pretend.” I thought this was an interesting point, but I still wanted a student perspective on all of this, so I spoke with three upper school students.

 

First, I talked to Isla, a senior at Waynflete who has been here for five years. I asked her how many books she reads in a month, and the answer I got was “zero to one.” She listens to audiobooks (as the librarian Emily encourages) and explained, “I tend to listen to them in installments, [and] I might be listening to a couple books at once. … I love checking out books from the library. … The library does a very good job of encouraging reading.” I did not get an opportunity to ask her about the statistics, but what she said seems to go along with Emily’s comments about student reading across various grades.

 

Next, I talked to Caileigh, a junior at Waynflete. She’s been at Waynflete since fifth grade, and reads about one or two books a month on average. When I shared the statistic that 27% of students her age never or hardly ever read for fun, she said that it was definitely accurate. I asked her if she thought Waynflete encouraged students to read for pleasure, and she told me, “I think if I asked any teachers, they would encourage me to read for pleasure. But the amount of work that they give us and the amount of reading they give us makes it hard to read for pleasure after you just read for a couple of hours for homework.” Her points continued to fit the statistics.

 

Finally, I talked to Rodas, a sophomore who has been at Waynflete since kindergarten. She agreed that the statistics were accurate, “but only because people are not finding the right books and feel like they're pressured to read books from school. But … if you find a book that you're genuinely interested in and find your jam in reading, I feel like it's a fun experience.” I asked her if she felt students were encouraged to find, as she put it, “[books] that you’re genuinely interested in,” and she answered that “I feel like they do care but at the same time, they're never gonna force you to read a book but they … will have conversations about like, oh, you should read this, oh, you should read that, but [they are not] actually encouraging it a lot.”

 

Rodas’s thoughts on this reminded me of John Radway’s point that “you can’t force fun." That seemed to be a common thread in all of the interviews I conducted––students enjoy reading if they have the right book and the right amount of time. According to students, the statistics are accurate, but they feel that Waynflete has a culture of enjoying reading, even if teachers don’t say it outright. I agree with my fellow students that reading is a fun experience, and I’m grateful that the librarians and teachers here share their passion for reading.