Literacy news
Young readers do not have the attention-span to appreciate Dickens
6 Feb 2012
Schools Minister Nick Gibb has great expectations of Britain's 11-year-olds, singling out Charles Dickens' classic as one of the books all children should read before they leave primary school. But on the eve of Dickens' 200th birthday, his biographer has warned that young readers do not have the attention-span to appreciate his work.
Claire Tomalin, whose book Charles Dickens: A Life, was shortlisted for 2011's Costa Book Awards biography prize, said the author's works depicting an unfair society were amazingly relevant today. But she added:
Today's children have very short attention-spans because they are being reared on dreadful TV programmes. They are not being educated for long attention-spans.
Nick Gibb, the Minister of State for Schools, said Dickens' works, some of which run to more than 500 pages, could have a transformative effect on children's reading habits.
He said:
Every child ought to read a Dickens novel by the age of 11
But his call also prompted a senior academic to add his voice to the debate over Dickens' place in the classroom. John Bangs, visiting professor at London University's Institute of Education, said:
Dickens is fantastic and to introduce children to him at an appropriate age is a really good idea. The trouble with Mr Gibb is he thinks everyone in the class should read Dickens and this is the kind of top-down, tunnel-visioned approach we could do without.
Read full article at The Independent.
