“Go
to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours.” This
advice of John Ruskin’s informs the redesigned SAT, which insists
that students set aside personal reactions to their reading in favor
of logical interpretations. To score high, students must understand
challenging texts, arriving at inferences only through precise
evidence.
At
a disadvantage are students who read mainly digital content and
popular novels: they expect reading to be easy, fast, and
entertaining. These teens are further handicapped by shallow
engagement with their reading. “What do I think
this article was about? What was the author saying to me?”
Questions like this will not be asked on the SAT. And the weak
reading skills they perpetuate present a serious concern.
The
remedy is literature. On its list of 101 Great Books Recommended for
College-Bound Readers, the makers of the SAT offer a menu of novels
and cultural texts that build serious reading skills. These texts
demand close reading and logical analysis. They require students to
attend to details, to think critically, to witness an interconnected
conversation about panhuman themes, even when the writing style
becomes challenging and unfamiliar. Few students will read all 101 of
these texts before entering college. But those who do tackle a fair
amount before the SAT are well prepared. The test’s reading
passages may not appeal to students’ personal tastes and
preferences, but students who made good use of the book list are
prepared to read them, analyze them logically, and find the author’s
true meaning.
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