Why is slow reading still taught?

December 22 will be the last speed reading workshop for 2012! The class is full and has been much in demand. There will be many students in the class on their Winter break who are anxious to add speed reading skills to their academic tool bag. They will find that these techniques have the potential of changing their entire academic experience.

One of the first things they will learn will be how to double their reading speed right away! Want to try it? Pick up a pen and while you are reading, underline, not using ink, but holding your pen just above the line. This alone will double your reading speed. The presence of this "pacer" will keep you moving, reduce the sleepyness many people feel while reading, and keep you from losing your place.

The way most of us were taught to read just doesn't work well. But speed reading programs remain outside mainstream public and private education, with the exception of a few community colleges and a handful of private schools. And even though millions of people around the world speed read today, there are still many detractors.

It is easy to find a renown brain researcher who will swear that speed reading is impossible. Having studied the sciences all my life, I understand why this is. Researchers can often get wrapped up in their own observations and expectations, discounting practical experience in favor of studies of limited samples of people.

Because most people learn to read in the first, second, and third grades, the way that reading is taught in most schools becomes a conditioned behavior, a habit that feels like it is “in the bones.” But the way most people learn to read is just one of a number of processes for reading.

Why is there such controversy over how to teach someone to read? Very simply, it is because reading as we know it today is a relatively recent phenomenon. Using the printed word as a vehicle for the transfer of information is not an evolutionary trait. It is only in the last few thousand years that people have read. Hence, the human brain does not have a specific center that is dedicated to reading. A number of brain centers, all designed for other purposes, are used in reading and hence, it is up to the individual to decide how they use those brain centers and how they read.

Another reason for controversy comes from the way schools are managed. School districts have become encumbered by the same obstacles that hinder large corporations. They start looking for a cookie cutter solution for what are very specific needs. Rather than hire super qualified teachers – and pay them well – most school districts opt for paying poorly and attracting teachers with big hearts, but limited skill sets from mediocre teacher training programs.

This Saturday, 40 folks will take a bold step to break their conditioning and embrace a new way to read. It will be the start of an exciting journey.

Be well.

Jackie