To compile a list of the 100 best books that every Russian schoolchild should read – Vladimir Putin made such a proposal at the end of January. Cultural figures and the Internet community responded and offer their lists – serious, parodic, provocative (for example, “books that should not be recommended to schoolchildren”).
Psychologies: Does the idea of compulsory reading bother you?
Marina Aromštam: There is nothing original in this idea, we already have a list of required books: this is a list of program works in literature. In addition to purely educational tasks, this list also has a “super task” – to form a common cultural field, to achieve public agreement in the sphere of values.
So the problem is, who and how is it composed?
M.A.: The very idea of a list of books for children’s reading is based on a generational conflict. After all, it is the generation of grandparents. But literature is a living organism. New books are constantly being born, some of the classics turn into “monuments”, and some of them suddenly become topical. School is always late – the subject “literature” at all times and in all countries told children about monuments. And books that respond to the thoughts and feelings of modern children and adolescents, characterize their worldview, most often do not get into the lists – they have not yet been tested by time. That is why you need to think and argue not about what should be included in the lists, but about how to teach children to read. Not in the sense of learning to read and write, but in the sense of mastering an important type of communication. How to develop in them the ability to perceive and understand. And this is much more difficult than filling the program with “best samples”.
Marina Aromshtam, writer, author of the books “When the Angels Rest” and “The Furry Child” (Compass Guide, 2011), editor-in-chief of the online magazine papmambook.ru for those who read to children.