Preparing the Canvas
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- 6/16/2010 |
- 10:00 am
I get some curious looks when people find out that my educational foundation is not about collecting books for kids to read. After all, I'm an author of young adult books, and I frequently speak at schools and libraries. Seems natural that I'd be all about rounding up books for distribution.
Book drives have their place, and if you participate, thank you. But my foundation, The Big Brain Club, is more about preparing the canvas. In this case, the canvas is the student.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but today's young people aren't facing a shortage of books available to them. Classrooms generally have stacks of them, school libraries are loaded with them, and book drives have been going on for generations. If a student wants a book, they usually - with a few exceptions - have access.
And yet many people blame our nation's declining reading assessments on a shortage of books. Allow me to be a dissenting voice: I believe that the issue is with the students, not the materials. For the past several years the attitude toward education is what has crippled test scores.
If you're an artist, you're likely familiar with gesso. If not, let me quickly tell you about it. Gesso is a chalk-based substance that artists use to prepare a surface for painting, usually canvas or wood. Left untreated, the acrylic or oil paint will have a difficult time sticking to the surface. Gesso coats the canvas and essentially gives the paint something to grab on to.
I look at books as the paint in the educational community, while students are the canvas. Left untreated, those books will slide right off the student, because in their minds, reading isn't cool. At least, that's what they've been told. My foundation, The Big Brain Club, is the gesso that prepares the canvas to accept the acrylic.
How? By providing a message - and an atmosphere - that learning is cool. For too long there's been a movement to glorify stupidity, while at the same time demonizing intellectual achievement. Young people are determined to fit in with their peers, and if there's even the slightest chance that they'll be tagged as a "nerd" or "dork," they'll avoid their studies and try to fit in with the cool crowd. As a result, their education - and their future - takes a big hit.
If you want to donate books to schools or underprivileged kids, I commend you. I do so at least a few times each year. But let's also make sure that those books are reaching young people who are prepared - and enthusiastic - about receiving them. Throwing books at students who think it's uncool to read is a waste.
And remember, young people are quite perceptive with regard to your attitude toward reading, as well. How you approach books - and reading in general - plays an important part in preparing the canvas. It's a subtle element, yet so powerful.
Log on to BigBrainClub.com to find articles and essays dealing with this subject. There's also a section devoted to students, with writing tips and exercises, along with profiles of young adults who exemplify what The Big Brain Club is all about.
I'm confident that today's young people can achieve great things, but, like any masterpiece, it's important to prepare the canvas.
