The Concord Review - Will's Blog

Jay Mathews, The Washington Post


"Why don't we unleash the creativity of educators, parents, and students and find ways to improve schools without more spending? Here are seven ideas I came up with, in consultation with teachers I know...

#5...Have every high school student read at least one non-fiction book before graduation. I am not talking about textbooks. Will Fitzhugh, publisher of The Concord Review, a journal of high school research papers, has been campaigning for nonfiction school reading. I was surprised, when I looked into it, how overloaded high school reading lists are with fiction. Non-fiction, with all those facts, is often more challenging for this age group. Good. If every English teacher substituted one non-fiction book for one novel on the required list, schools would improve without any extra expense."