u/Fuzzy-Armadillo-8610

I’m not talking about textbooks, exam prep, NCERTs, coaching material, or career-related books. I mean genuinely reading for fun.

I studied in a CBSE school from 1st to 12th grade, and looking back, I barely read any books outside academics. For most of my childhood, books were associated with marks, homework, and memorizing answers for exams. I never really developed reading as a hobby..

In my case, I think part of it came from the way school worked. There was much more focus on scoring well and cramming than on building a reading habit or curiosity outside the syllabus. Covid probably made it worse too since my screen time became much higher.

The only thing I regularly read was The Times of India every morning for news/current affairs. Other than that, almost all my free time went into YouTube, social media, games, etc.

Now that I’m older, I sometimes wonder how much I may have missed out on by never becoming a reader earlier.

Was this similar for you guys too, or did you grow up reading novels/books casually? And if you did develop a reading habit later, what changed?

So this has been eating at me and I need outside perspective. Earlier this semester I caught a classmate cheating. I went back and forth on it for a while but eventually decided to report it to the academic integrity office. I felt like it was the right thing to do, especially for everyone who was putting in honest work. What I didn't know at the time was that he apparently already had two prior misconduct incidents on his record. So when this third one came up, the school suspended him. Obviously, he can return back in 1 year. He was an international student and had to leave the country entirely.

I didn't know about his history when I reported. I just saw what I saw and reported it. But knowing how it all played out, I can't stop thinking about whether I made the right call. A suspension for an American student is bad enough. For him it potentially meant his entire life here unraveling.

So this has been eating at me and I need outside perspective. Earlier this semester I caught a classmate cheating. I went back and forth on it for a while but eventually decided to report it to the academic integrity office. I felt like it was the right thing to do, especially for everyone who was putting in honest work. What I didn't know at the time was that he apparently already had two prior misconduct incidents on his record. So when this third one came up, the school suspended him. Obviously, he can return back in 1 year. He was an international student and had to leave the country entirely.

I didn't know about his history when I reported. I just saw what I saw and reported it. But knowing how it all played out, I can't stop thinking about whether I made the right call. A suspension for an American student is bad enough. For him it potentially meant his entire life here unraveling.