Miguel Salas (Madrid, 45 years old), a doctor in comparative literature, is convinced that in a world so aggressive and with so many elements of dispersion it is almost a feat that adolescents ―faithful readers as children― do not abandon reading, that in turn Judgment is essential to recover the ability to concentrate ―which he sees diminished in his students at a subsidized school in the capital― and to acquire a good reading comprehension, the Achilles heel of many Spaniards who do not understand the statement of what they are asked . in his book (In) reading plan: surviving adolescence without stopping reading (Platform) Salas, who has worked at universities in China and Taiwan, proposes to professors -he also teaches at the University of Comillas- to read aloud to his students and establish a dialogue with them about classic texts; while parents are recommended to establish a reading time routine, not use it to punish or reward, visit libraries (even if they buy books) and not insist that their children read the titles that captivated them in their youth.
Ask. In the 2008 crisis, the sale of children’s books did not drop, and yet parents barely read.
Answer. There is a great prestige of reading that no one dares to discuss, but we live in a very aggressive environment for reading. We are acquiring new habits very quickly like the mobile, without thinking if we want to or not. It has more to do with that, than with a conscious abandonment of reading.
Q. Why do you stop reading in adolescence?
R. They turn more to sharing experiences with friends. The mobile is a much more affordable leisure. Watching a 30-second video costs nothing, but getting a book takes effort, even if the reward is much greater.
With the mobile on the table, you act like a person with a much lower IQ
Q. You in the book are very critical of social networks.
R. The concentration of my students has fallen a lot with smartphones. We touch the mobile close to a thousand times a day and connect about 150 times. With the mobile on the table, you act like a person with a much lower IQ. Many times children who shine academically practice ballet or music, which require a lot of concentration. Boys are often very aware that they don’t remember short videos they’ve watched or that they get nervous if there’s no change in activity. They watch the series at 1.5x speed -because they are unable to keep up- and even the music. No one has just heard a song, they always hit the little button first. That makes your attention span shredded.
This idea that social networks are a new means of communication is false
Q. So it is impossible for them to read a novel.
R. They read because they have no choice, but then they like it a lot. At my school we take them to the library once a week to read. They cannot take out their cell phones or do any other activity. Most love it. The fundamental thing is a good selection of texts and leaving time for them to read. But then they come home tired and it happens to them like adults, who throws their cell phones at them. Reading would be the perfect exercise for children to regain ownership of their ability to concentrate. It is a fight that is worth raising in schools in the face of so many tablets. Social networks make money from their fragmentation of attention. I always tell kids that they are the product, otherwise they would be paying for social media. This idea that social networks are a new means of communication, they are a means of advertising, is false.
Q. You recommend having a conversation with the adolescent before recommending a topic.
R. It’s fundamental. I ask them to start. You have to take an interest in their world. And that is very difficult. I have been in secondary school for 11 years and at the beginning I had the keys to the children and now it costs me a lot. Before, I had them because I watched television and they did too, and from time to time what we saw coincided. But now we don’t have leisure where the children have it, they already have it all on YouTube, Tik-Tok…
Q. So he is against using the mobile for educational purposes.
R. It is not a work instrument. You have a spreadsheet, an email… but together with a bunch of scattered elements. I am a convert. I went in very excited, but I have realized that it is exciting the students in the wrong direction. They are very happy, but the residue left behind is much less. Next course I am not going to upload the notes to the network. I have realized that I am robbing them of their capacity and the possibility of attending to and synthesizing ideas. Then, when they study your notes, they don’t understand, because they haven’t paid attention in class.
Q. He insists a lot on the lack of reading comprehension at all levels, also in mathematical statements.
R. If I don’t have words to name something, that something doesn’t exist for me. In the book I give the data. At 20 months of life, a baby from families with a high cultural level can handle 200 words and a low cultural level 20. It’s just outrageous. They learn to read late, and when they begin to use reading to learn, they run out of words. Many times they take a dislike of learning. Many of us have discovered our vocations at school, but if you are not able to understand, you will never be enthusiastic about anything.
Nothing happens if they read a motorcycle magazine, the important thing is that they acquire a reading habit
Q. Should we look for texts more in keeping with these times and renounce the classics?
R. One thing or another. You have to do a contextualized reading of the classics from the teacher to the student, reading them aloud in class has been lost. The teacher has to master the classic texts well, extract interesting fragments and put them in contact with the life of the students. And do it slowly, but for that we would have to separate literature and language [en dos asignaturas], because if not the agenda eats us. Read The Lazarillo either the celestine it will not create readers. We need to make available books classified by subject, by interest and for them to take one and change it if they don’t like it. Nothing happens if they read a motorcycle magazine, the important thing is that they acquire a reading habit.
Q. Surprising in the book is the statement that reading improves empathy.
R. I think all of us who are readers have experienced the sensation of being able to put ourselves in the shoes of a person who has nothing to do with us in the first place. Literature makes you understand that under the differences, as the Chinese say, is the human being.
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