At the opposite end of the spectrum from leisure reading is the hundreds of pages professors assign us to read each week — pages that students seem determined to hate no matter what. It isn’t just in Shakespeare and Literary Theory, even classes like American Humor experience this phenomenon. Books that would be awesome summer reading, like “Catch-22,” “Thank You For Smoking” and “Running With Scissors” get SparkNoted on a regular basis at Binghamton University.

The problem students seem to have is that every book that is assigned for class ends up being over-analyzed and dissected to death before we are through with them. That, or it’s just some spectacularly boring reading. What is more shocking is when students don’t do the reading when the book is actually good. Is it laziness or just a lack of dedication to academics?

Ryan Vaughan, a professor in the English department, tries to avoid this phenomenon by keeping the material relevant.

“I understand students not reading if they’re shitty books, but half the time they are awesome,” Vaughan said of his American Humor class. “I don’t bog it down with over-analysis because even then there is too much other stuff to do. The students don’t take the time to differentiate, they just assume it’s all going to be terrible. Just because it’s required reading, students are turned off.”

Lauren Sadowsky, a sophomore psychology major, said she would like more options in her English classes.

“I hate being told what to do. I’d rather be given a genre and be able to choose my own book that fits within the parameters of that genre. Freedom of choice.”

Vaughan said that the increasing number of unprepared students gets in the way of class discussion.

“I’d almost rather teach classes like this [Humor in Film] because as a teacher it’s hard to have a discussion when you don’t know where everyone is in the reading. At least with movies, you know everyone is on the same page.”

Eileen Maguire, a graduate student TA in the English department, said that the difference between leisure reading and assigned reading is interest.

“Leisure reading is a choice and people get to pick what they read,” Maguire said. “The moment someone tells you, ‘You must read this to pass my class,’ it puts students off.”

Maguire said that while the students may not do the reading, some of the responsibility lies with the professor to make it relevant to the students.

“The challenge for the professor is to make the material relatable to the student, if the professor doesn’t make the effort to translate the material into something the student can understand and apply to his own life,” Maguire said.

The general feeling among students is that professors might benefit by keeping in mind that they were students once too.

Samantha Simon, a sophomore mathematics major, commented on the extensive amount of reading she has been assigned this semester.

“Teachers assign books that students not only don’t want to read, but are also asked to read them in an unrealistic time frame,” Simon said. “For instance, my history class gives us three different books to read parts of per week, totaling to over 100 pages. Being given a book to read that one does not want to read is one thing, but making them read it too quickly to actually understand it is just ridiculous.”

Eve Rickles-Young, a junior art history and French double major, said that professors should definitely take into account the readability of their books.

“When it’s an interesting book that is more of a story than shooting out facts, I’ll be more inclined to read it, especially when I’m more interested in the subject matter.”