Okay, the fuck was going on in your school? That is horrific, and it seems as if literally no one there had any education in pedagogics.

In fact, if i had to write a “How to push children away from reading”-Guide, it would look roughly like how you describe your school.

The best way to get people to read it to normalize it. I think a lot of that happens before school. If parents read at home and with their children, children will view that as simply something that people do for fun.

If you want your children to read, read. While they can see it. If they are interested, involve them.

And if you are a teacher, don’t do what is described here.

During my formative teenage years, i read a lot of Terry Pratchetts Discworld books.

It is impressive how much those have influenced how i view the world.

And really, there could be many worse books to base your worldview on. There is a very sharp view on the world that permeates all of his work.

• All people are just people. No matter what they look like, and all the other superficial differences. Look beyond the superficial and interact with the individual.
• People act based on actual incentives in the world, not based on what you imagined those incentives should be.
• What people think is going on and what they believe about the world is at least as important as what is actually going on.
• There is a good solution, but it may not be obvious.
• Pure black clothing is actually not good for hiding.

And lots of other stuff that i don’t immediately remember. Pratchetts way of viewing belief and gods in those books is also really interesting.

In addition to the “ignore what other people say” i would also add that you can decide what to talk about with whom.

Don’t talk about what you read with people who negatively judge your reading habits.

Reading is for fun. Not some weird achievement hunt. I read what i enjoy. If you don’t like it, that is your problem.