Chucking "Book-It"

"The more kids see books as a way to get pizza or some other prize, the less interest they'll have in reading itself," Kohn, a former teacher, said in a telephone interview. "They tend to choose easier books to get through faster."

That’s a quote from Alfie Kohn, one of my heroes, which appeared in a news article(http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/03/02/reading.for.pizza.ap/index.html) about Pizza Hut’s Book It program. I read his book, Punished by Rewards, a few years ago, and it changed my outlook on a number of things. So when Hannah started school and came up against the Book-It program for the first time, she and I had a long talk about whether participating is a good thing.

Teachers have all the kids set a goal for how much daily reading they should do. They then keep track of how long they read each day for a month. If they reach their goal, they get a coupon for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut. I didn’t want to tell Hannah not to do it. But we did have a talk about why she likes to read. Turns out, it has nothing to do with pizza. Also turns out that, according to Kohn and others, once you make it about pizza, even kids who love reading learn to resent it when it gets between them and pie. They also begin to read less challenging material and report enjoying reading less than children whose reading isn’t connected to a rewards program. Isn’t that interesting?

So, in kindergarten, Hannah opted out and felt fine about it. In first grade, earlier this year, it came up again. This time she wanted to try it. I bit my tongue and went along with it, just out of curiosity. She stopped after two days. Why? Because she hated keeping track of how many minutes she read. It seemed “stupid” to her, she said. “I just do it because I like it. I don’t want to count it.” So she chose to opt out of the program. When her teacher asked her why, she said, “Because a personal pan pizza is just enough for me. I won’t have enough to share with my family.” Not exactly the point, but I’ll take it.

I really dislike this program. It epitomizes all that’s wrong with American education. Kids know before they go to school that there is an inherent value in learning. They do it naturally. They love it. It’s when they go to school that their innate love of learning is attacked on a daily basis by adults who have long forgotten how natural it is for them, and who believe that a child won’t do anything without being bribed, punished, or rewarded. What a depressing and limited view of human nature.