ABSTRACT
In any programme of reading development in the junior school, some place must be given to quicker reading, which is merely a popular term which covers more effective and efficient reading. There seems no valid reason for trying to make the child think he must read all types of text in the same way or for assuming that the child will automatically realize that he should adjust speed and ways of reading to suit the text. The reader omits everything that is not absolutely pertinent to his requirements. Sometimes it will mean the omission of chapters and sometimes merely paragraphs or sentences, but what is the use of reading the parts of a book that are irrelevant to the needs of the reader at that moment. Skimming falls into a different category. Children and many adults are generally very inept at this, probably through a dogmatic and rigid insistence upon a left to right sequence at all times when reading.
