When Michael Gove says children should read a lot, you can hardly disagree with him. But I do despair of using the US educational system as an example for ours. I suspect a lot of what passes for reading in US elementary schools is of the McGraw-Hillscholastic type of scheme, whereby children read a levelled book and answer comprehension questions on it to prove they have read it. So 50 books might not equate to 50 real books, and having to answer a bunch of lousy comprehension questions at the end is likely to put some children off reading.
Children should be reading a lot, but let’s see how Finland or South Korea do it.
Sulla, Via www.tes.co.uk.