On Wednesday I mentioned my dislike of the Accelerated Reader program. If you want further proof of how incredibly wrong this program can be, take a gander at an email I received this morning from one of my listservs:

In our elementary school, we run a Nazi AR program, where every student is required to read 100 points a year. If they fall behind on their weekly quota, they must stay inside from recess to read. They're graded on their AR test results. Every student who gets his 100 points gets a t-shirt, and they all wear them on Wednesdays, so every Wed, everyone knows who does not have their 100 points yet. Students may not read anything that is not AR until they've read their 100 points.

Doesn't that sound like a barrel of fun? I was an insatiable reader as a child, but I'm pretty sure that if I had been forced into and AR program like this it would have killed any joy I had in reading.

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