Education Opinion: Why do we try to ram books down their throats?

"Tommy, are you still reading? You've been reading all evening. I bet you haven't watched any television yet. Put that book down and turn on the telly!"

Can you imagine a world in which things are this way round?

Children must find their parents' and teachers' preference for certain media rather baffling. Television is the ultimate baddy, yet they sometimes watch it at school. Books are good almost regardless of what they are about. There is a feeling that children must read. We worry rather less about what they read. We have been delighted recently that our nine-year- old son has developed a voracious appetite for adventure stories written by one particular author. He seems to be getting through two a week. Hurrah, we cry, and dash out to buy another one. Yet we would be horrified if some of the incidents described in these books were shown on the TV

"The crocodile took him in its mouth, one three-foot-long jaw across his stomach, the other across his back ... When he was well tenderised, the crocodile could easily pull him apart and swallow each part separately." (Excerpt from Cannibal Adventure by Willard Price, published by Red Fox.)

But why do we worry so much? Obviously children need to be able to read, but once they can read, why is an adventure story better in book form than on the television screen? Why is a book-reading habit better than a television-watching habit? Is it just another form of British snobbery?

Reading is, after all, an unsociable pastime. It shuts out the outside world. The reader does not want to speak or be spoken to. Television can be watched with friends. We can share what we see. It can become part of our common experience.

The mystery is that so many of us do still want to read books. I was enchanted by the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, but it was only when I read the book again that I could fully appreciate why it is a masterpiece. If we relax, and offer our children a range of possibilities, they will probably still read books; as long as we don't try to ram them down their throats.

LUCY TOLLINTON

The writer is a mother of five and a maths teacher.