Kimberly

My Mom was telling me this story the other day and I found myself horrified since I adore books so much.

A teacher at her school goes to Target or Wal-Mart picks up cheap paperback books to teach students better reading strategies. She takes the books to her class and tears it apart and gives each of the students a part of the book.

I was horrified when I heard about this. My jaw just dropped. If a teacher started tearing apart a book in class I would of walked out (and being a teachers pet.. trust me that would have been a first )

How would you guys react to a teacher doing that in your class?

I just wanted to get your opinions on it because I still can't get my head around the idea of tearing a book to shreds like that. Why she didn't copy the pages or buy more then one book is beyond me!!

StellaSlight

I would be horrified too, and truly mad. I don't think I would want to have classes with that teacher anymore, and I bet my parents would have agree with me.

I keep all books in a very high respect. Each single book is a treasure, and I've always thought it's a priviledge to have access to litterature even nowadays. Too many people in the world can't read, or have different sort of books banished/censored for us to act that way (tearing books apart I mean).

I'm really shocked that person would teach students to destroy books to have a better 'reading stategies'. A good litterature teacher would rather show students how to form their own minds to have their own tastes and be critical towards litterature, instead of showing how to waste lots of paper that necessitated lots of trees to be printed.

Kimberly

I know I was shocked too!! I can't imagine how tearing a book apart and passing around the book shows people better reading strategies! The teacher was giving a demonstration during teacher conf. for the other teachers and my Mom and the Librarian were shocked she would do it!

The authors put a lot of thought and soul into that book and their ideas and imagination are all over the pages. To destroy a book is to destroy other peoples creativity!

22 Umbrellas

Hm. I'm not sure I would've walked out of class, but I would be pretty horrified and probably lose any respect I'd had for the teacher. I mean, I don't even like to get creases in my books or bend them out of shape.

That makes me remember a long time ago, when I was a kid and I was reading one of my sister's books instead of doing my homework -- my mom got really mad and tore it in half down the spine. I was pissed...I mean, was that really necessary?? Obviously my sister was mad, too, since it was her book. I think I ended up paying for it.

Kimberly

Rain Candy woo I would of been steaming pissed if my mom did that. My sister got mad at me once and threw one of my books in the toilet. She ended up paying for it.

KIT

Wow, I’d be in a state of shock.

My friends laugh cause I treat my books like they’re glass. They say books are a form of religion to me and I guess they’re right. So I’m just as horrified, even books I hate I handle with care.

I also don’t understand why she can’t just copy the pages.

Rain Candy- I’d be furious, not only at her ripping the book, but having to pay for something she did.

Yellow Mustang Girl

This thread and all of your responses reminds me of an essay in a textbook I used to use. I'll have to look it up once I return to work from Spring Break.

The essay was about a woman who cherished books, who thought of books as sacred objects....she'd found one in a hotel (she was a maid) laying face down, with the spine bent and the pages dog-eared. She was horrified.

However, the essay goes on to explain or show that there are two categories of book cherishers (just made up a word there). 1) who believes the books are sacred and should not be destroyed or marred in any way 2) who believe that books are to be loved and used -- highlighted, written in, bent, totally loved and used.

I know most of the books that I cherish are certainly marked in and higlighted and dog-eared.

I know this is not the same as ripping up a book, but that did make me think of this topic.

Kimberly

I guess I'm a person who loves to keep my books in good order then. I write in some of them and highlight in others for school. But I have never on purposely ripped one apart. It seems to me if you are trying to get kids to read more maybe you should show more respect to the book.

But I would be interested in reading the essay Carol. My brother in law loves to read but he always breaks the spine of a book first thing and that shocks me. I find it so interesting to see how people treat their books

Quarterley

I am a neat freak with books.

What is the lesson the teacher was trying to teach though? Giving a part of a book to each student....for what?

soulstarshine

I'd just stare at the teacher and wonder if he/she went crazy.

froggiepopple

I am also the second type of booklover. I always dogear in my book, not usually to mark the pages, but to mark the last page that I read when the book has a biblography, index,etc in it. I don't usually highlight and mark.

Kimberly

From what I gather she was handing out a part of the book so they could study better reading habits for studying. You know like outlining.. and skimming for major point parts. My thing is why couldn't she make copies or why she didn't buy more books? That I still don't understand.

Quarterley

Make no sense.

Tearing books = better study habit? Um....

It's a really bad example to set for kids. Ripping up a book just for one lesson? Better off photocopying different parts of the book and hand them out to the kids and then later teach them to recycle the photocopied paper. Then those books can still be read many times by different kids. Cheap books do not = garbage books. Geez.

Yellow Mustang Girl

Yeah, I agree that tearing apart the book was a drastic measure. When I first read the title of the thread, I thought perhaps it was to demonstrate some aspect of censorship or something.

I hate to judge other people, but I agree that ripping the book apart and handing out different pages was a bit odd. Why not, like everyone else has said, just photocopy?

hmmmm.....

I wonder what type of "book lovers" everyone is.... I may start a thread for that separate discussion

Carol

igloo155

edited