{"id":9084,"date":"2022-08-02T22:38:12","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T03:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=9084"},"modified":"2022-08-30T12:21:34","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T17:21:34","slug":"a-synopsis-of-a-synopsis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=9084","title":{"rendered":"A Synopsis of A Synopsis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The assigned reading books seem very daunting to students. One easy solution involves using only simple summaries of those books, but this method and these summaries in general lead to missing out on why the teachers carefully selected those books.<\/span><\/p>\n

Book summaries, such as <\/span>SparkNotes <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>CliffNotes, <\/span><\/i>provide students with simple and easier-to-digest versions of books. But where the misuse of these summaries comes in is when one uses them as substitutes for their novel counterparts, skipping out on the novel, in an attempt to save time or to meet a rapidly approaching test deadline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Using summaries this way means removing the personal aspect of those stories. \u201cWhat <\/span>SparkNotes <\/span><\/i>or other paraphrased presentations of these novels do is it strips the book of its life,\u201d said English teacher Fr. Patrick Friend. \u201cIt strips the story of those things that make a story a story. Novels are supposed to be an entry into another world, and I for one don\u2019t want to live in a world of just cold hard facts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Students lose the story by taking advantage of paraphrased works.\u201cYes, you\u2019re still getting the main points and a certain grasp of the book,\u201d said English teacher Mr. Dylan Owen. \u201cBut you\u2019re not able to put it in your own words and perspective because you\u2019re reading someone else\u2019s summary\u2026 You should get to define it your own way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By taking that path of least resistance, students lose valuable future skills. \u201cIronically, kids read the summaries to free up time,\u201d said English teacher Mr. Edward Dodge, \u201cbut ultimately what it does is actually limit their freedom if what we\u2019re trying to do is learning how to think. People who study the liberal arts recognize patterns. That means they\u2019re not locked into a particular field. They understand patterns in human behavior, they understand patterns in data. They can recognize those things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

These young audiences also leave behind human emotion through ill use of summaries. \u201cSimply exercising the ability to perceive the world through someone else\u2019s eyes builds empathy and makes a person more thoughtful about his approach to others and his overall decision-making,\u201d said Mr. Dodge. \u201cAgain, if all we\u2019re doing is reading summaries, we\u2019re experiencing life in a superficial manner, not really living life, and I think that\u2019s limiting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Young men also lose the excitement of the novel on this path. \u201c[When reading], you\u2019re able to remove yourself from your current world and put yourself in the shoes of somebody else somewhere, \u201d said Mr. Owen. \u201cSo you learn what it’s like to be them, and you miss out on an opportunity to gain pleasure from something you\u2019re going to be able to do for the rest of your life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Using these websites for their unintended purposes also comes from previously rooted issues. \u201cThe negative effect does not come from the <\/span>SparkNotes<\/span><\/i>.\u201d said Fr. Friend. \u201cI think it comes before that. The negative effect comes from most of the information that we receive now is so passive. We don\u2019t have to give ourselves to it at all.\u2026and so because we don\u2019t practice the ability of immersing ourselves into something else, it becomes very difficult to give ourselves to a novel.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This manipulation of these websites is rooted in modern human psychology of the student. \u201cWhat’s the first question when reading a novel for a student today,\u201d said Fr. Friend. \u201cIt\u2019s \u2018Am I entertained right now?\u2019 and two seconds later it is, \u2018Am I still entertained?\u2019 Well, maybe it’s not entertaining, but that doesn\u2019t mean it’s not worthy of your time. Just because something isn\u2019t eye-catching or attention grabbing, that doesn\u2019t mean that there’s not something beautiful or true there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

These summaries also nullify the worth of reading. \u201cThe value of books comes not only from their ideas, which of course can often be gleaned from a summary,\u201d says Wall Street Journal<\/em> bestselling author Scott Young in his article “<\/span>What\u2019s Wrong with Just Reading Summaries.”<\/span>\u00a0Mr. Young continues, \u201c[The value of books comes] from being a difficult mental task that requires focus and simultaneously guides deeper thinking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Through summaries, one loses the ability of the experience of a book. \u201cReading a hard book is more than just the ideas you obtain from it,\u201d said Mr. Young. \u201cThinking about the book\u2019s content while you read it is what matters. So a really long, good book on a topic will provoke much longer reflection and therefore have a much larger impact than a short summary or perhaps even many short summaries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Summary websites are not fully to blame for these problems. \u201cTechnology isn\u2019t necessarily evil,\u201d said Mr. Owen, \u201cbut the things inside of it can be. Going straight to <\/span>Course Hero<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>SparkNotes<\/span><\/i>, or all those things is just easier than reading.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A summary can assist the reader in enlightenment, but only when used for their intended purpose: elaboration. \u201cI\u2019m a firm believer in <\/span>SparkNotes<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Course Hero, <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>LitCharts<\/span><\/i>,\u201d said Mr. Owen. \u201cI think all those things are great. But they are most beneficial when you read and follow up with them.\u00a0 If students would read\u00a0the book\u00a0 and\u00a0then use <\/span>Course Hero <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>SparkNotes<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0they would form a deeper understanding with the novel itself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Summaries can enlighten the reader and give that reader a look into someone else\u2019s mind. \u201cI read stuff and want to look at someone else\u2019s analysis,\u201d said Mr. Dodge. \u201cOther people are going to see things I didn\u2019t see and help me to understand them more. It\u2019s a matter of putting second things first: the first thing is to read it yourself, and the second thing is to join into a broader conversation. But If I\u2019m just reading summaries, I\u2019m not joining in on that conversation. I\u2019m eavesdropping on it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Although summaries can be used for further exploration of a book, they also lack what a good book has. \u201cWhile summaries give you the plot points, there\u2019s a lack of depth. You can get the plot points, but there\u2019s so much more to a work of literature than who did what when,\u201d said Mr. Dodge. \u201cThere’s a feeling behind it that you just don\u2019t get if you read a summary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The assigned reading books seem very daunting to students. One easy solution involves using only simple summaries of those books, but this method and these summaries in general lead to missing out on why the teachers carefully selected those books. Book summaries, such as SparkNotes and CliffNotes, provide students with simple and easier-to-digest versions of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":9087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[196],"tags":[362,143],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liftoffnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/IMG_1614.jpeg?fit=4032%2C3024&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xfZw-2mw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9084"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9084"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9187,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9084\/revisions\/9187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}