Librarian wants boy to....

[fireheart17]

Stop reading so much

So in a read-a-thon contest, a boy has been winning for the past five years straight. Apparently the librarian doesn't think that's fair because so many kids drop out during the process because of him.

The suggestion has been made that for the next year, she'll draw names out of a hat instead.

Needless to say, the mother of said boy isn't happy.

Personally, I see no problem if the boy is winning-at least he's READING quite a bit and actually enjoying it in the process.

[Ginger Tea]

Others dropping out due to his participating?
Not read the link, but that sounds more like well I was going to stop at 10 books but he's on his 12th.

It is kinda like comparing it to an auction, I would have bought it but I had a set limit, but Mr Bigwallet has more than me.

I wouldn't enjoy it if it was a speed reading contest as I like, or liked to take my time with a book and imagine as much detail, more so if the book was light on set dressing.
but if he didn't partake or they just gave it to 2nd best, there would probably be a gap in the numbers, so those that dropped out, would not be dropping out, just reaching their limit on books to go through.

[Andara Bledin]

I can understand that his voracious devouring of titles would put a dampener on others participating, but banning him or changing the rules so drastically isn't the answer.

If they really wanted to promote reading, then they could draft him into the program as some sort of honorary ambassador or the like where he's not eligible to "win" but is recognized as being the top reader regardless.

[anakhouri]

I think that's a good idea. Make him a 'coach' or something, like a lifetime achievement award. Make him something for other kids to aspire to.

I can see where the librarian is coming from; some people read very quickly, others don't (as Ginger Tea said). It doesn't mean other kids don't love to read and don't work to win the contest, it's just that this kid loves to read and does so very quickly. I think tt would be nice for the boy to step aside and let someone else have a chance (and might be good character development, if his parents spoke to him about it) but it shouldn't be required. If he doesn't want to, the library needs to find a solution on their own

[s_stabeler]

Yeah, I hate to say it, but the actual point of the contest is to encourage people to read, so they really need to do something here. Drawing winners out of a hat is idiotic though. ( It appears the librarian has a chip on his shoulder about the contest because a little girl lied to win a few years ago)

[Boozy]

I had a similar problem organizing sales incentives for my staff because my top salesperson won every time, so everyone else stopped trying. The no-brainer solution was to offer prizes for everyone who reached a certain level, regardless of what the others achieved.

Drawing a name at random would have been a really stupid idea. How does that give anyone an incentive?

[fireheart17]

I had a similar problem organizing sales incentives for my staff because my top salesperson won every time, so everyone else stopped trying. The no-brainer solution was to offer prizes for everyone who reached a certain level, regardless of what the others achieved.

Drawing a name at random would have been a really stupid idea. How does that give anyone an incentive?

See, that's what I would've done as well.

A few of the "thon"-type fundraisers that are sponsored or organised by private companies will provide incentives for people who participate, with people receiving prizes for as little as $5. The prize was proportional to the donation though!

[Panacea]

Stop reading so much

So in a read-a-thon contest, a boy has been winning for the past five years straight. Apparently the librarian doesn't think that's fair because so many kids drop out during the process because of him.

That's like saying to a sprinter, "You've won too many races. We'll just draw the next winner of the race out of a hat."

[Racket_Man]

They would have hated me as a child. I cleaned out the fiction/SciFi sections of three or 4 different library branches. I used to walk out with a stack of books under my arm. and YES I did read all of them and returned for more. And the books I was checking out were not of the "See Jack run, Run Jack run" variety.

[Rapscallion]

That's like saying to a sprinter, "You've won too many races. We'll just draw the next winner of the race out of a hat."

Heh - reminds me of a complete fuckwit who was our sales team coordinator for some time. One guy was an exceptional inputter in ordertaking terms. Could exceed the target by twice its amount. He was under instruction from said person to get to his target and then take no more work, in effect just sit there, as he was taking work from people who needed to attain their target (granted, they needed to get this to get through the trial process), and this resulted in long queues of people waiting to be rung back, large piles of faxes not being done, and extra stress on the newer people.

That rule didn't last.

Rapscallion

[Hyena Dandy]

That's like saying to a sprinter, "You've won too many races. We'll just draw the next winner of the race out of a hat."

There's an important difference here, though. The randomness is not the best solution, but the thing to note is that the goal of a sprint is, hypothetically, to determine "Who is the best at running here"?

I don't think that the goal of a read-a-thon is to find out who reads best. The goal is to getmore people, who woudln't otherwise, to read. If your goal is to have kids read, this does hinder it.

The Librarian doesn't want him to not read. The Librarian wants the kid to not keep dominating the reading contest, because it means other people won't.

[Ginger Tea]

My only concern is after all this, the children who stopped at 10 books because they knew they could not compete, in truth could only muster the oomph to get through 10 books anyway and just used him as an excuse.

if their numbers pick up then it is due to them giving up against a faster or more prolific reader, if the numbers stay the same, well he only has to read 11 books to still beat people instead of however many he does normally.

[bainsidhe]

Here's another link: http://www.today.com/books/librarian...est-6C10960198

This jerk of a librarian told a reporter the 9 yr old was hogging the contest and should step aside. Sorry, but spouting this to the media is not the way you encourage other kids to read at your library. They could restructure things so kids get recognition for meeting certain goals, or could put the focus on kids beating previous reading goals. Going on record with a reporter and criticizing a book-loving child is not endearing her to anyone. How many kids won't participate now, because they don't want to be publicly shamed if they do well?

[fireheart17]

This jerk of a librarian told a reporter the 9 yr old was hogging the contest and should step aside. Sorry, but spouting this to the media is not the way you encourage other kids to read at your library. They could restructure things so kids get recognition for meeting certain goals, or could put the focus on kids beating previous reading goals. Going on record with a reporter and criticizing a book-loving child is not endearing her to anyone. How many kids won't participate now, because they don't want to be publicly shamed if they do well?

Not to mention that the dialogue with said article has a number of people AGREEING with the librarian, using the analogy of Michael Phelps competing in a local swim club meet or Tiger Woods competing in an amateur golf tournament. Sorry, but sports =/= read-a-thons.

Gee, and then people wonder why our literacy and numeracy levels are declining....>.>

[Andara Bledin]

I like the idea of achievement goals, myself.

That way, everybody who tries wins.