When I attended Rancho Milpitas Middle School, students would eagerly check out books and interact with our designated librarian, Mr. Chiu, who, ironically, was a math teacher but a big advocate of reading. Students would look forward to round-table discussions at monthly book club meetings and the potluck that accompanied them. Reading was a culture.
In contrast, the MHS library was closed last year due to the lack of a school librarian. This year, although the library is open all days of the week, it’s monitored by a part-time staff member who cannot check out books to students. Let that sink in—in a school with over 3000 students, no one has checked out a book from our library in over a year and a half.
Somehow, as we transitioned to high school, reading became less important. Naturally, students become
busier in high school and have less time to read. However, the decline in reading is also because of the general culture we’ve built at school: few talk about books, let alone read for fun. Books have become obsolete, and we need to fix it—both through a change in student mindset and school-wide efforts.
Reading is important because it helps people generate new insights about life through the author’s wisdom. According to a Healthline article called “Benefits of Reading Books: How It Can Positively Affect Your Life,” reading also increases empathy, strengthens the brain’s neural networks as evidenced by MRI scans, builds vocabulary, reduces stress, and may even lengthen lifespan.
There’s clearly value in reading, and students should push themselves to explore non-required reading. To foster this, MHS must also build an environment where students have easy access to books and are excited to talk about them.
First, our library needs a long term librarian that students can connect with. The librarian could make book recommendations, host book talks, and liven up the library space. Initiating a collaboration with the Milpitas Library may help, both to find a librarian and to gather tips on how to boost student engagement with our school library.
For a school with over 3000 students, it’s unacceptable that very few students visit the library and hundreds of books are collecting dust, unable to even be checked out.
Meanwhile, teachers should establish classroom libraries for students to use. With easy access to books,
students would be much more inclined to read. Regardless of what subject they teach, teachers could also make book recommendations; discussions about books certainly should not be confined to English classrooms.
Finally, the school should return to the Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) schedule, with an SSR period for students to read every day except Wednesdays. Even if SSR is just a few minutes per week, perhaps taking up the time for homeroom in which most students are unoccupied any way, students would have
devoted time for reading. This time is crucial because most students are too occupied by schoolwork, extracurriculars, and their screens outside of school to make time for reading.
Students and the school must build a culture of reading beyond academic requirements, for self-education and enjoyment. For students, at the very least, you’ll develop your brain through reading; at the most, you’ll be exposed to new, life-changing philosophies and perspectives.