#ive also tutored a REALLY dyslexic kid for like a year now

[asyipyip]

there was a post that popped up on my dash not too long ago that said something along the lines of "if you're only reading YA and fanfiction, you're not reading, you're consuming tropes" and i wanted to comment on it but i didnt want to reblog it because 1.) i didnt want to clog ops activity any more than it already was 2.) i dont....fully disagree, and 3.) if this point im making does end up being totally inane and the majority of ppl disagree i dont want to become the victim of a snarky comment from op that leads to me being dunked on for several reblogs

anyways

Like i said, I don't fully disagree with that point, not at all. theres a reason why filters and tags exist on fanfiction sites, and its so ppl can literally look for specific tropes. There are the occasions where you find a fic thats such a unique and well written concept you forget its not an original novel- but that's rare.

my only hold up is....thats okay? not everyone likes/enjoys reading, and fic is a good way to mentally engage in it without committing to a book.

The reason why i got hung up on this is because of a specific story from my aunt, who has been an middle-high school english teacher for over 20 years now, and from what i can tell, is a damn good one

My aunt works in a low-income area with lots of farming town kids, so its pretty conservative and VERY underfunded

and she has a rule for her classroom: you MUST bring something to read for silent reading (i think once a week but im not sure)

And she tells her students "i dont care what you bring, just bring something"

A lot of students bring whatever books, magazines, anything. She has had snarky kids bring in books obviously meant for little kids; and she doesn't say a word.

It doesn't always lead to something, but she's had several students who REALLY struggled with reading grow to love it because....they can read whatever they want and not get shamed by her. She had a high school senior bring in dogman comics and she was like hell yeah! I've heard those rock! She's had students who never read for fun tearing through series because it's easy and they aren't embarrassed to be reading them anymore.

My little sister went to a really snooty, up-its-own-ass charter school for years and its festered a literal hatred of reading in her. She wasnt allowed to bring anything "pop culture", no harry potter or hunger games, DEFINITELY not comics or graphic novels, nothing besides "classics" (my brother can testify, it was the fucking worst)

So yeah, I agree that people only reading trashy-romance ya or fanfic aren't really "reading books". Totally. And I agree that anti-intellectualism (which was forged on this website in response to people shaming anyone they deemed "not smart" which honestly was mostly just internalized misogyny“im not like other girls” behavior) Is an actual real problem, but I don't think people reading mostly fic is this horrible thing that's gonna lead to the end of intelligence online

Anyways, yeah. Read what you want. If you have the motivation, check out a book you've never read. Or read articles when they pop up on your timeline, that's what I like to do.

But don't let anyone shame you for reading, I think. Whatever you've got motivation to do, I'm sure it's still keeping your brain stimulated and helping your vocabulary.