Today was a special day of celebrating some of our super readers at Donum Dei. As many of you know, our students participated in a summer reading challenge. Those who met the challenge earned coveted house points and the top readers were invited to lunch with me in the garden. In total, our students officially clocked 84,572 minutes-- or 1,409 hours-- of reading during our summer break!
But here’s a secret. I really don’t care how many minutes our students read. I care that they journeyed to far away places, encountered fierce battles, slew a few dragons, got swept away in magical lands, and followed their imaginations into tales that required fortitude and virtue in ways only stories can.
I recently listened to a clip of a classical educator talking about what happens to a child when they read a powerful book. He described telling a child what makes a good friend. “Tell a boy that a friend is someone you know, like, and trust,” the speaker said. “Will he know how to be a friend? Will he be inspired to be a friend?”
“Now take the girl and give her The Lord of the Rings,” the speaker continued. “Introduce her to Samwise Gamgee. You don’t even have to tell her what Samwise Gamgee is or what he’s doing. You don’t have to draw her attention to his actions, his behaviors, or the way he acts as a friend. You just have to give her the image. Will she know how to be a friend? Will she be inspired to be a friend?”
Of course, we believe the answer to these questions is yes. And this is why we invite our students to read-- not to tally minutes, or earn points, or win an invitation to a pizza lunch. We invite our students to read good stories as a way of shaping character, forming virtue, and encountering what it means to be human, to battle good and evil, and to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of a friend-- what Jesus called, the greatest love.
Our students read a lot. For some it comes naturally. For others it does not. But it’s important to understand why we ask this of our students. We ask (and sometimes bribe) them to read because if all we do is instruct students on how to flourish without showing them beautiful images of virtue and character through powerful stories, how will they truly discover the meaning of virtue?
I hope you’ll not only encourage your child to read to check the boxes on a reading log, but that we’ll partner to train their palette to yearn for quality in what they read. The Great Books have withstood time, shaped hearts, and sharpened minds.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with reading The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I just might suggest the weight of a story such as Charlotte’s Web can go a lot further in helping an outcast recognize his worth because the selfless love of a friend tells him who he really is and that can change everything.
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