In this paper I will analyze the history of reading in the classroom from an acoustic perspective. Inspired by the recent rise in historical sound studies in general, and in the history of education in particular, I will zoom in on a rather neglected theme in the educational historiography, namely the history of silent reading. I will not deal with the rise of silent reading in medieval times, but focus on a heated discussion which arose towards the end of the nineteenth century and lead to numerous publications in the pedagogical press of the first half of the twentieth century. Although attention definitely will be given to the international context, I will mainly make use of Belgian articles published in between 1890 and 1940. Central to the argument developed by proponents of the silent reading approach was the fact that one at that time was confronted with such enormous societal changes that learning to read aloud would just disadvantage the student too much once they left the school banks. Students who had learned to read by speaking aloud would not be able to keep up with the accelerated speed of modern life. On top of that, and perhaps more importantly, it was also said that silent reading offered the schoolteacher ample opportunities to align his activities more with a scientific approach towards education. In short, what I want to demonstrate on the basis of this particular case study, is how being attentive for the presence of sounds and silences can help the historian of education to further disentangle the complex and multifold connections that existed and still exist between educational realities, theories and societal contexts.

/

/

/