On Learning to Read: The Child's Fascination with Meaning

by Bruno Bettelheim

An assessment of the true value of reading, applied to a critical evaluation of the way children are taught to read. Using case studies from the authors' experience of teaching severely disturbed children to read at the University of Chicago Orthogenic School, and the difficulties encountered by more "normal" children, the authors show that reading should not be taught merely as a technical accomplishment - far more important is the child's attitude to reading. The book also includes a discussion of dyslexia and of other reading difficulties.

Genres: Education, Psychology, Nonfiction, Psychoanalysis

306 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Bruno Bettelheim (1903-1990) was an Austrian-born American child psychologist and writer. He gained an international reputation for his views on autism and for his claimed success in treating emotionally disturbed children.

Reviews

[Michael Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using case studies from the authors' experience of teaching severely disturbed children to read at the University of Chicago Orthogenic School, and the difficulties encountered by more "normal" children, the authors show that reading should not be taught merely as a technical accomplishment - far more important is the child's attitude to reading

The principles of this book are still very sound today. Parents need to take an active role in reading to their children from the beginning and later source books that kids will enjoy and that will foster a desire to read more.

He doesn't address the distraction of TV and what is now the extension of this challenge into consumer tech and social media. But these are big issues that can undermine reading.

The author's biggest critique is reserved for how reading is taught in American schools. The approach has been too functional, too rote, without reading real books and instilling the joy of reading that will stay with them for a lifetime. The wrong approach can actually instill hostility to reading. Avoidance.

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Improv masters learn like babies: dive in and imitate and improvise first, learn the formal rules later.

“At the beginning, your mom didn’t give you a book and say, ‘This is a noun, this is a pronoun, this is a dangling participle. You acquired the sound first. And then you acquire the grammar later.”

"Teaching kids to read a little early is not a lasting advantage. Teaching them how to hunt for and connect contextual clues to understand what they read can be. As with all desirable difficulties, the trouble is that a head start comes fast, but deep learning is slow. “The slowest growth,” the researchers wrote, occurs “for the most complex skills.”

Epstein, David J. Range, Penguin Publishing Group, 2019

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[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic emphasizing the importance of reading quality, interesting literature rather than focusing only on skills.

By emphasizing skill to the exclusion of meaningful ideas and content, you're taking away the reason for learning o read. Skill should be integrated with content.

When a new ability such as reading can be applied to worthwhile content (literature instead of See Dick Run), the experience is imminently more satisfying. Learning to decode often does NOT lead to the attitude/belief that reading is meaningful.

What happens to reading in the first three grades is crucial for the future of the students' literacy.
False assumption: only through repetition will a child learn a word.
Interest in the word guarantees the child will learn it.

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this having greatly enjoyed other books by Bettelheim. This seemed (perhaps because there were two authors) and had too few examples of insightful "misreadings" to make their argument convincing. The last chapter, which primary readers used in German-speaking foreign countries was the most interesting part.

[Sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was an interesting book overall although a bit repetitive in places. The key message was that children need to be stimulated with intelligent respectful text from a young age and not have heir enthusiasm crushed from an early age by politically correct, emotionally unchallenging text which most text books (primers) in America currently have the kids there reading. the book also encourages you to understand the mistakes that children make when reading and not just dismiss them. If a boy / girl replaces one word with another try to understand the underlying message behind why that happened. The book talks about why children may resent reading, the magic of reading, misreadings, talking reading seriously, errors that actually promote literacy, empty texts that bore children and meaningful books.

[Ruth Ann]

Since this is an old book, I just quickly skim read it. I agree with one of the opening points that since education has become the largest single enterprise of our society, it has become entrenched with bureaucracy. "In consequence, a large and well-entrenched bureaucracy serves not only the interests of children but also its own interests, which are not always in accord with what will best serve the education of children."
The authors state that if our children are to grow up literate, reading must be exciting from the very beginning and never become a chore. The focus should be on meaningful texts, learning more about themselves and their world, and on all the aesthetic pleasures of words and language.

[Katelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very interesting. However, it was extremely repetitive, using story after poorly written story, and was extra long for no reason, and without actually offering helpful, practice advise for what to do with the information they are presenting - what books SHOULD you read to your kids (specifics, not the generic guidelines they provide). I am not 100% on the pyschoanlysis ship, but I understand their premise and I agree. If we want children to become literate, not just be able to read or decode, then we need to challenge, stimulate, and motivate them with great literature and poems, not Cat in the Hat.

[Marsha]

Regardless of what you think about the author, Bruno Bettelheim makes an interesting case that our education system is failing children and is actually responsible for many of the reading difficulties we see in children. I'm not through it yet, but as a future English/Language Arts teacher, this is right up my alley.

[Lindsay Evermore]

smith, hamden

[OlePinto]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13818310