Who Should Decide What Students Read?

By Dane L. Peters

In efforts to encourage young adults to read more, the question of how to decide what they read always prompts lively debate among teachers, parents, and young people themselves. My experience as an educator and lifelong reader leads me to the axiom: The more adults encourage and the less they intrude, the better.

The love and power of reading are part of what led me to become a teacher after leaving the Marine Corps in 1975. As a captain in the armed forces, I had experienced one way of getting people to accomplish a mission. But my civilian upbringing helped me understand that, in working with young people especially, there are other ways to encourage, inspire, and model how to get things done.

A story in The New York Times this year rekindled for me, and no doubt for other educators, that age-old debate over whether we should tell young readers what to read or let them choose for themselves. It recounted the growth in the number of teachers who follow the educator Nancie Atwell’s reading-workshop approach of encouraging children to choose for themselves. But the article also disclosed one instance when the renowned Maine teacher, trainer, and author drew the line: with Gossip Girl . “Despite the student freedom,” the Times article notes in describing one workshop session, “Ms. Atwell constantly fed suggestions to the children. She was strict about not letting them read what she considered junk: no Gossip Girl or novels...