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SPARKNOTES
By Lindsey Saldin, Staff Writer
"I don't think I have read a single assigned book, except for A
House on Mango Street."
When some students are asked whether
they read what they are assigned in English classes, most either
laugh or say, "Does SparkNotes count?" What happened to the days
when parents read bedtime stories such as If You Give a Mouse a
Cookie or The Giving Tree? Certainly we never would have thought of
using SparkNotes for a Dr. Seuss book then, and of course
Shakespeare is harder to understand now, but it seems as if the love
of reading has died out somewhat. In replacement, a dependency on
SparkNotes, CliffsNotes, or BookRags has come, especially upon
entering high school. As Mrs. Brown said, "SparkNotes is a wonderful
tool to help students understand certain passages, but it should
never be a substitute." Although SparkNotes might be appealing, in
the end students are shortchanging themselves if that is all they
rely on.
An anonymous sophomore said, "If you
do not have enough time, you can always count on SparkNotes for
simple summaries." SparkNotes is easily accessible and has all the
titles that teachers assign. It also gives enough information
covering all the important aspects of the book so that students do
not even need to read and can still get by. When students have a lot
of other homework, required reading usually takes the backburner
because there aren't any "cheat sheets" for other subjects, but
SparkNotes is there to shorten an assignment normally taking
forty-five minutes to something that only takes seven minutes of
their time, even if they are reading someone else's interpretation.
As a Junior who wishes to remain anonymous said, "If it wasn't that
we are assigned so much I would probably read."
However, there is a reason why the
classics have survived so many years after being published -
teachers do not assign chapters as a way of inflicting torture.
Especially for students in Honors classes, they have made a choice
to read the extra pages. As Mrs. Cobb said, "If students in Honors
are just using SparkNotes instead of reading the literature at all,
they should check themselves out." Before these study guides were
invented, people had no choice but to read or fail, and as an
anonymous Sophomore said, "I would probably read if Sparknotes
didn't exist - I would have to in order to pass."
Not all students use SparkNotes as a
shortcut to get out of doing the work. Some use the online study
guides to help them read a confusing secion or help refresh their
memory before a test. Most English teachers support SparkNotes for
these reasons and recognize it as a wonderful tool.
We have to ask, when has the tribute
band ever been better than the actual music group? Is Splenda ever
been sweeter than actual sugar, or have knock-offs been worth more
than the real deal? There is no replacement for actually reading the
text, but SparkNotes is helpful if used appropriately.
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