2016年3月11日托福独立写作范文：Students do reading by their own is as important as or more important than the reading teachers assign. (16.03.11)
Sure enough, to open a book is always beneficial. Reading, by occupying time so constructively, can make us feel contented, with no time for boredom. Whether reading books arranged by teachers or to enjoy our favorite works has sparkled a debate. I always believe that to read books that really interest us can best stimulate our reading zeal and tap our infinite potentials.
Free reading, as a superior option, has many advantages. It provides relaxation for leisure hours and thus kindles our reading interests. Indeed, interest is the best teacher. To read good books can be a habit-formation only when we find plenty of fun in reading. More precisely, the pleasure of reading lies in reading itself. For example, as a fancier of literature, I used to read a great many literary works. Reading those thought-provoking books stirred my vivid imagination, stimulated my creativity, and deepened my insights into life. On the contrary, I might slacken my efforts at reading and my reading enthusiasm might wither if I was forced to read unfavorite books
Secondly，students might loose the ability to make independent choice if they only read at the guidance of teachers. By that I mean, it is highly possible that those who only read books recommended by educators will feel at sea once teachers once they lose their exterior incentives. Meanwhile, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. People’s reading tastes differ greatly, some reading assignments designed by teachers, even though are meaty and classic, might fail to arouse every individual’s reading impulses and arouse their sympathies. In this sense, reading might lose its charm.
Indeed, I have to concede that most reading assignment designed or recommended by teachers have withstood the test of instructional experiment. Those reading lists, in most cases, are carefully chosen. Thereby, to do some reading praised by teachers can help students avoid aimless reading and save precious time. What I want to rebut, however, is that students should be encouraged to make their own reading choices，what educators need to do maybe just provide timely guidance and useful suggestions.
In sum, my standpoint is that to inspire students to make free reading choices is one of the best approaches to ignite their reading interests and motivate their reading zeal.
Reading is a process of procuring knowledge and the ways of reading vary for students between reading on their own and reading as told by their teachers. As for me, it will be more beneficial to read books in line with students’ wishes.
For one thing, students should read what they are curious about and can find interests in, which can find wide application among college students in particular. In order to hone one’s talents and crafts with specific purpose, college students will find the more practical books to read to strengthen their competence for their future competing with other rivals in the job market. Take Steve Jobs as an example. After attending the college just for a few months, he couldn’t figure out how the college life would help him in the future except for imposing his working family enormous financial pressure.Then, he decided to drop out so he could stop taking the required classes and reading the assigned reading materials that did not interest him and began dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. Finally, the last several months for his college life turned out to be priceless later on since he took a calligraphy class and read the relative books, the knowledge of which had been applied to produce the first computer with beautiful typography. Evidently, part of Steve Job’s accomplishments can prove how essential for students to read by following their own curiosity and intuition.
For another thing, students can be more absorbed in the books that they like. To be more specific, compared with the assigned papers or articles, students’ incentive can be more stimulated by reading what they like. For instance, the prevailing notion of children’s education is that they should develop their own interests by reading what can intrigue their inquisitiveness or stimulate their imagination. Therefore, there is a voice coming out today that more freedom needs to be given to primary school students so that they can read some more interesting books like the science-fiction novels or tales and etc. Besides, too much focus on cultivating students’ academic abilities and the ignorance of developing their overall qualities will lead to the development of elites with less morality. Obviously, the benefits of reading books by students themselves and the detriment of just reading as assigned by teachers can tell us how important to give students’ rights to choose what they read.
Admittedly, reading what teachers assigned can be of also importance. In other words, teachers will be familiar with which area students should be improved to achieve better academic performance. For instance, teachers will require students to engage in extensive reading to increase students’ reading ability. However, it can not be the reason to regard reading as students wish as inferior because students can better improve their reading ability by being absorbed in what they like most.
To conclude, students should enjoy the rights to decide what they read. (489 words)