Hacker News Reader

Comment by aerovistae | Hacker News Reader

Well, I suppose you could read some critical analysis of it if you're interested in why it's considered great; I'm no expert. For what it's worth I agree with its status in the canon: it's a powerful and carefully articulated story in a very compact form with a unique, exciting, and thought-provoking premise. The perfect short story.

View on HN

Yes it is good entertainment, but wouldnt then the kids read those anyways?

That’s not a given, unfortunately. I believe that the intended long term strategy is to give kids a glimpse of something that is outwardly interesting, in order to increase their internal motivation to seek out other good reading material. Not necessarily to get it “right” the first time.

I don't claim to know the current thinking but, to me, it makes sense that the focus should be on "classic" literature (for which The Lottery qualifies) that's also approachable. I'd argue that a lot of Hemingway and Fitzgerald do as well--though I don't fully understand the popularity of The Old Man and the Sea.

I liked reading in high school and most of the 19th and 18th century works I read bored me to tears and I probably ended up at least partly just reading the Cliff Notes. Today, I expect I would go to Wikipedia.

No. Kids dont like to read all that much these days, they moved to another entertainment options.

One of big goals teachers and schools are having currently is to make at least some kids like reading enough so they do it.

Kids need to encounter something before they're motivated to seek it out on their own.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com