Grade Average number of sets
1 10.0
2 6.3
3 5.1
4 5.5
5 6.3
6 5.3
7 5.5
8 6.0
A fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth-grade student ought to be able to
read all the materials supplied his grade, both reading texts and all
kinds of supplementary reading, in 40 or 50 hours. He ought to do it
easily in six weeks' work, without encroaching on recitation time.
He can read all of it twice in 10 weeks; and three times in 14 weeks.
After reading everything three times over, there still remain 24 weeks
of each year unprovided for.
The reply of teachers is that the work is so difficult that it has to
be slowed down enough to consume these 24 weeks. But is not this to
admit that the hill is too steep, that there is too much dead pull,
and that the materials are ill-chosen for practice in habits of rapid
intelligent reading? It is not by going slow that one learns to go
fast. Quite the reverse. Too often the school runs on low speed gear
when it ought to be running on high. The low may be necessary for the
starting, but not for the running. It may be necessary in the primary
grades, but not thereafter for those who have had a normal start.
Reading practice should certainly make for increased speed in
effective reading.
The actual work in the grades is very different from the plan
suggested. In taking up any selection for reading, the plan in most
schools is about as follows: