York High School boasts a variety of clubs that allow for students to explore different interests and find groups of people they feel welcome with. Recently, YHS gained a new book club. A book club at its core is a social club centered around the reading of books. Book clubs typically meet regularly and as a group make their way through various books. The YHS book club will not stray far from the base premise, however it is understandable that managing a student workload could make a book club feel like obligatory assigned reading. To combat this, the book club aims to create an environment of understanding where we read books that we are all interested in at a slower pace. While the club operates with a leader and a teacher advisor, students will be on even ground to suggest books, and propose points during discussions.
There are many reasons to join a book club, it may even be just for socialization, however the societal benefit of book discussion forms cannot be understated. Books promote critical thinking, and force the reader to truly listen without an opportunity to interject and debate the author’s point directly. Critical thinking is an important skill, which can be generated from the habit of reading, however, the habit is under threat.
A prominent issue found within American society today is that less people are reading or have the ability to read. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) states that, “About a third of 8th graders nationwide are failing to hit the NAEP Basic benchmark in reading.” To add to this, the NAEP has documented a decline in reading for leisure in adolescents, from the 1984 metric that around 35 percent of 13 year olds indicated they read every day to the 2023 survey where only 14 percent indicated the behavior. This decline in literacy, as well as interest in it is concerning. An interesting perspective on the issue is provided by Substack user Dr. Amrita Singh, “Murakami said ‘If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking’ and I used to worry about this. Then I realised that most people aren’t reading at all.” This is a trend within today’s society, arts such as dance, drawing, or singing, are no longer something everyone just does, it is not something you are fully comfortable doing in carefree spirit if you are not skilled. Books and the idea of intellectualism have created a similar situation, getting into reading can be intimidating. While the consumption of literature is not necessarily innate human nature, curiosity is, and books are a huge proprietor and satisfier of it.
In conclusion, the mission of the book club is to promote a space for critical thinking and curiosity to flourish. Lessons can be learned from nearly every book, from Crime and Punishment to The Hungry Caterpillar. Please consider joining the York High School book club, meetings are held in Ms. Caprio’s room at the end of the art wing, please reach out for information on when the next meeting will take place.
