READING


Author and former teacher Nigel Hinton discusses why


books engage us and how we can reach those teenage boys who simply won’t read


I


RECENTLY RECEIVED an email from a boy who had been reading one of my books at school: “I really liked reading Buddy and it made me feel grown-up,” he wrote, then added: “If I read books I’d definitely read some of yours.” It is both funny and sad. Here is a boy


whose prejudice against reading is so deeply ingrained that he cannot imagine repeating the enjoyment a book gave him. He is part of that alarming number of boys who can be classed as “reluctant readers” (60 per cent of key stage 3 boys according to recent research – although my personal observation would put the figure even higher). Does it matter that all these boys do not read? I think


it does. Since primitive man sat round a fire and told his tribe things that had happened to him during the hunt, probably embellishing and exaggerating for dramatic effect, stories have been an essential part of how human beings have tried to understand the world and themselves. Thus story-tellers are a central part of every culture and the best stories can entertain us, educate us and widen our horizons. Great spiritual teachers knew the power of stories which is why they often wrapped their messages in parables and folk tales and legends. Of course, stories are available from other sources


– television, cinema, theatre, radio, even video games. And some of the stories found in these forms are very powerful and fulfilling.


Union address: ATL The cuts are without morality


Dr Mary Bousted is sick of politicians talking


about morality while implementing devastating cuts to education


DAVID CAMERON’S delayed reaction to the recent riots was not his finest hour. The prime minister’s talk of “a slow-motion


moral collapse that has taken over parts of our country, these past few generations”, did nothing to explain the causes of the chaos which, for a few days, hit parts of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Liverpool, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton and Bristol. When politicians talk of morality it is time to ask


some hard questions. Let’s start with David Cameron’s announcement


of a “family test” which is to be applied to all government domestic policies. “If a policy stops families from being together,” he said, “we should not do it.” But how are families going to be helped to spend


more time together when more than a million of them will be stripped of child benefit by 2013? This measure, alone, will tip the balance towards two parents having to work full-time, and fitting childcare and contact around the edges of the day when both are too exhausted to do much more than go through the motions of the bed-time story. Another hard question which the coalition


government is furiously ducking is the effect of local government spending cuts on support for the most vulnerable young people. Despite the government’s denials, it is clear that


Sure Start provision, which has been so effective in helping the most vulnerable parents to cope more effectively with the demands of bringing up babies and toddlers, is being cut to the bone. Children’s centres are being closed while youth and community workers are being made redundant in a programme of savage cuts which disproportionately affect the most dispossessed.


Deputy leader of the Labour Party, Harriet


Harman, was right to raise the abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance when debating the causes of the riots with Michael Gove. The secretary of state’s furious reaction was


more an indication of his fear that the riots could, in part, be explained by a huge sense of injustice felt by inner city youngsters that they are excluded, by nothing more than an accident of birth, from a better life. It is a blot on our nation that 15 per cent of all


16 to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education or training. And it is disgraceful that one of the richest societies in the world is prepared to waste a generation on the sacrificial alter of budget cuts to pay for a banking crisis that the young did nothing to create. When Mr Cameron talks of a moral collapse,


does he include in his analysis the greed of the bankers which precipitated the financial crisis that has so devastated the current living standards and the hopes of the poorest? Does he understand the complete sense


of hopelessness engendered by the prospect of unemployment and existing on the margins of society, with skills and talents going to waste while the devil makes work for idle hands? To raise these questions is not in any way to


condone the violence and murderous disorder of the riots. Those involved in the riots must be subject to justice. But legal redress alone will not make things


better in the future. To coin a phrase, we have to be tough on crime, and tough on the causes of crime. And one final thought. The riots happened in the


school holidays. The function of schooling in giving purpose and order to young people whose lives are haunted by absent parents, family disorder, financial worries and dangerous neighbourhoods has not been adequately understood. For many of our poorest children, school provides


a place in which they learn what it is to be a good citizen, how to respect others and, crucially, have respect for themselves. Teachers are immensely skilled in building a just


society. Instead of initiating a review of schools, Mr Cameron would do better to ask teachers how they instil citizenship and respect in their students.


• Dr Mary Bousted is general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. Visit www.atl.org.uk


Who cares if boys don’t read?


But I believe that there are two strong reasons


why books have a special power that no other media has. First, I think something unique happens in the brain when it translates words on the page into “understanding” – something which requires reflection and absorption and which lodges the significance of the story more deeply than the immediate impact of something delivered in pictures. The other reason why I champion novels is that they can take you where no other medium can – inside


someone else’s head. Kids who have read Buddy and seen the BBC series based on it often say they liked the film but they preferred the book because: “You knew what Buddy was thinking.” That is the unique selling point of novels. They can


take us inside the thought processes of another person. They allow us to see the world through someone else’s eyes, and to really walk a mile in their shoes. And adolescent boys can certainly benefit from the understanding and empathy that such a process can bring. And by “good novels” I don’t mean obscure or


difficult literature. Art can be popular and accessible but still address profound issues intelligently. Look at the films of Hitchcock or John Ford or at the success of The King’s Speech. Listen to the music of Dylan, Springsteen and Leonard Cohen. Read Steinbeck or Le Carre or David Nicholls. When I was first invited to write for “reluctant


readers”, I hesitated. Back when I was a teacher, such books were, mostly, terrible. Those hopeless abridged versions of “classics” or those dull pieces of original fiction with unconvincing stories and sentences with no rhythm or life. They were enough to put kids off reading forever. On the other hand the challenge was exciting – short


certainly does not mean poor. And the fact is I actually care about all those teenagers who don’t read. I began thinking about the power of myths and


legends – those stories which touch raw nerves in human beings: Oedipus, Achilles, The Furies who destroy their children, the heroes with one fatal flaw. Or stories like Cinderella, a version of which is found in the oral tradition of almost every culture on earth. And the ballads – the stories, spoken or sung, which have appealed to all levels of society and endured for centuries. All these stories addressed


perennial hopes and fears and concerns of people. They were accessible but worthwhile. They were short. They used simple, direct language but they were psychologically complex and accurate. And they also had an elusive quality – as if they invited people to expand the story, to put two and two together rather than having the answer “four” directly presented. I took them as my model. My first such story was called


Ship of Ghosts. I had a limit of only 6,000 words but there was something about the bare, sinewy style demanded by that constraint which made me feel it was as good as anything I had written. Since then I have written another four short books, including the latest, Ghost Game, which is part of the Heroes series aimed specifically at reluctant boy readers. These books received little attention from the


literary world but I started getting letters like this one from a school in Ireland: “We are working to improve literacy levels here. As part of our project we encourage students to read aloud, using class sets. We have been reading your short book Partners in Crime. It was the first full book many of them had read and its popularity has encouraged them to read more.” There are two key points in this – full texts, and reading aloud. In the English department of the


12


secondary modern school where I worked in the 1960s and 70s, every class read a full text every term and much of the work stemmed from those texts. I am fully aware that things have changed


dramatically since those heady days – financial and time restraints, plus foolish governmental initiatives and interference, have led to English lessons where extracts and “bite-size” predominate, and where texts are reduced to fodder for exams and tests. Little wonder so few youngsters associate reading with pleasure and the chance to increase their understanding of themselves and the world. But I think the tide is turning. Perhaps there is still


not enough time for classes to read long complete texts together, but teachers are beginning to realise that there is a growing number of well written books which are short enough to be used in that vital whole class experience of sharing and discussion. Despite using simple, direct language, which


makes them accessible to even the weakest readers, these books can also work at a sophisticated level, emotionally and intellectually, and are meaty enough for all levels of ability. An email recently came to my website from a guy I


taught 40 years ago and who was in no way an academic kid. He wrote: “My strongest memory of school is when I was 12, standing outside your classroom literally trembling with excitement because I knew we were going to read the next chapter of Treasure Island.” I can’t imagine many pupils trembling with excitement at the idea of reading an extract! So, this is the way forward: short, worthwhile books which can be read and enjoyed by the whole class – read aloud, by the teacher and/or students. I believe it can still be done: children can be enthused about books. It is up to English teachers, since the parents of many children are unlikely to encourage them, being non- readers themselves. English teachers, armed with enthusiasm and the right short


texts, can do it. They


can introduce children to the complexity and ambiguity of life as found in good books, as opposed to the simple-minded pap that


is available all too


easily elsewhere. They can give their pupils the ability and desire to read books which will help them to come to grips with their own baffling selves and the contradictory and baffling experience of life.


but all those who “catch” the reading bug will bless and remember the teacher who gave them that gift.


Of course it is not going to work for every pupil, SecEd


• Nigel Hinton is the author ofGhost Game, part of the Heroes series aimed at engaged young male readers. He worked as a teacher for more than 10 years.


Further information


The Heroes series has been printed by Pearson and consists of six novels and two plays aimed at reluctant boy readers aged 11 to 14. Ghost Game costs £6.99. Visit www.pearsonschools.co.uk/heroes


SecEd • September 22 2011


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