Student Academic Counsellor

Teens and Reading

Teenagers are reading – it is just that most teens are only reading short text online; the kind of text that is on the games they are playing or on whatever social media they are using.  Some will argue that this is all they need.  A counter argument is that for those who want to pursue further education, this will most certainly not be the only texts they are faced with and for those who will enter the workforce straight after school, it is the type of critical thinking that only reading can give, that will be most highly valued by employers. What can we do?

• Try to model good reading behaviours 
• Encourage reading about topics that teens are interested in; from sports to zombies try not to censor
• Talk about things you have read. Have discussions about texts; we are aiming to get students reading and thinking.

If they need further encouragement, a study in 2016 showed that people who read at least 10 non-compulsory books (curiously the number of books we ask students to read each year at Horsham College as part of our Fully Booked Program) ending up earning 21% more in income!

Bonita O’Brien

Student Academic Counsellor