I believe that to write well you have to read well. The two skills go hand in hand. It would be surprising to hear a musician say they didn't listen to music but is not unusual for PR students to say they don't read fiction, or any other books that aren't directly related to their course.
This worries me on many levels. First of all, they are missing out on a great deal of fun; the more you read, the more you enjoy reading. Secondly, PR is a discipline that requires creativity and the ability to draw on a wide range of sources and interests is a distinct advantage. Thirdly, good employers tend not to believe that spelling and grammar are optional extras, and the best way to improve written English is to be continually exposed to good written English. (I was delighted that in his excellent talk to Sunderland L1 students, Stephen "PR Blogger" Davies explained that the reason his writing has improved over the past few years is because he read other people's blogs and learnt from them.)
Being able to write is like playing music; there are rules you must learn but you also have to develop an ear for rhythm, cadence, pitch and tone. Yes, some people are naturally better at writing than others, but these things can be learnt, and the way to learn is to immerse yourself in good writing.
To encourage reading I am strongly tempted to introduce a Book Club into my Level 1 PR classes this year. Each session I want someone to tell the class about the book they are reading; it can be fact or fiction - anything as long as it isn't on a module reading list.
I mentioned this before Christmas but was floored by a very sensible question from someone who said she did not read regularly and wanted me to suggest a good novel. My mind went blank.
Help please. Any ideas of novels guaranteed to captivate young people who aren't convinced of the joys of good fiction....?
I'm with in this, of course.
My first year students will think I'm pedantic in pointing out that 'this years' requires an apostrophe, and that the plural of 'hero' is not 'heros' nor is it 'hero's'. (Sorry, but I've just read these mistakes a hundred times).
I sympathise with the case for reforming spelling in UK English, but we're stuck with what we have for now and need to impress upon journalism and PR students that they are set to become professional writers. So they have to care.
The only way to learn about the oddities of the English language is to read. With that in mind, we shouldn't be too prescriptive about what. My teachers who banned children's author Enid Blyton and university lecturers who were dismissive of Thomas Hardy should be ashamed.
So you read Dan Brown or JK Rowling? Excellent.
Posted by: Richard Bailey | January 13, 2008 at 02:08 PM
Richard, I remember you wrote an interesting post a while ago about the reading habits of your students. Perhaps you could add a link...
Posted by: Philip | January 13, 2008 at 04:25 PM
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
One People by Guy Kennaway
Blindness by Jose Saramago
The Thought Gang by Tibor Fischer
Posted by: Lee Henshaw | January 13, 2008 at 07:43 PM
Ayn Rand, Anthem
Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Personal favorites indicating today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality.
Don't forget to direct students to sign up for word of the day by dictionary.com.
Posted by: Lauren Vargas | January 13, 2008 at 07:46 PM
Just a suggestion, but why not do a poll with your own students...
I know by experience students are reluctant to read whatever teachers tell them to do so. They just watch the movie or search online for a decent resume...
Being able to select the books themselves would also be a good incentive to actually start doing some reading.
Pietr
Posted by: Pietr | January 14, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Book club candidates for me would include:
We need to talk about Kevin
His Dark Materials trilogy, yes they are strictly speaking children's books but they're great
My Sister's Keeper for the moral dilemmas it raises
Ooh, and how about A Prayer for Owen Meany because it's one of my all time favourite books and everyone should read it!
Posted by: Sally Whittle | January 14, 2008 at 11:16 AM
I'm trying to remember the books that captured my imagination when I was in my late teens/early 20s. I think they included ...
Patrick Suskind - Perfume
John Irving - A Prayer for Owen Meaney (another vote for this one!)
Ian McEwan's early collections of short stories - First Love Last Rights and The Cement Garden (not to everyone's taste though)
For students who have real difficulty reading novels, why not suggest some good, gripping non-fiction - such as Joe Simpson's Touching the Void?
Posted by: Liz Bridgen | January 14, 2008 at 04:56 PM
I thought you would have suggested The Rider... :-) Anyway: one novel that usually works for students over here is Are You Experienced by William Sutcliffe (funny and not too difficult, but really well written). I could give you a longer list, but let's not overload those poor students of yours... ;-)
BTW: hear you are in Belgium next week?
Posted by: Serge Cornelus | January 15, 2008 at 08:22 AM
The stories and novels of Annie Proulx (The Shipping News, Postcards, Close Range (which includes Brokeback Mountain)).
Your students are fortunate to have you as a teacher. My patience with people (esp in PR & advertising) who cheerfully pipe up "Oh, I don't read books" is thin.
Posted by: Allan Jenkins | January 15, 2008 at 09:16 AM
Really interesting and rather relevant is Ben Elton's Blind Faith. The book is set in the future and is about a society where privacy is unacceptable and everyone has to Blog their lives in intimate detail... I couldn't put it down
Posted by: Gemma Sedlacek | January 21, 2008 at 01:00 PM
Deer Hunting With Jesus, by Joe Bageant - a humorous, engaging, scathing essay on the plight of the US underclass.
And pretty much anything by William Boyd.
G
Posted by: Gerry | January 25, 2008 at 01:04 AM
I second "His Dark Material Trilogy".
My student son (who reads Lord of The Rings at least twice a year) says that it is even better than LOTR (and that is quite a compliment!).
Trudi Canavan's Black Magician Trilogy is recommended too. However, he is studying for a masters in Maths, so whether his choice of reading matter is what a student of journalism would read is an interesting point.Is there a type of book that suits one type of character more than another?
Posted by: Anji | February 20, 2008 at 05:34 PM
Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. It's been out a while but I just finished reading it. Not only is it a great story that draws you in but you really pay attention to the writing as he is constantly slipping in little things that connect. Enormous creativity in his characters. Very cool.
Posted by: Game Ear | July 02, 2008 at 06:58 PM