Literacy 2

               This week I tried to explore the topic of reading. This topic is to me, possibly the most integral part of, not just any literacy class, but in all of education!
                If I may, I would like to invite you to imagine a time long ago, before written language was developed. A time where people would share information orally, maybe through the art of story-telling. These collections of information, whether in the form of raw data or stories, would be passed on from one generation to the next. It is not hard to see how many problems may arise from this method of sharing information. For one, the information that is passed on may be tampered with and irreversibly distorted as it travels from one person to the next. This distortion of information may not necessarily by intentional. As time goes on, and as more and more information is collected by human beings, it would inevitably get to a point, where the storage of, and retrieval of, such a vast amount of information would become a task that is biologically impossible for the human mind. Therefore the unavoidable consequence would be that of much of the knowledge of Human kind would be lost. Subsequent generations would have to re-learn certain information over and over again for themselves because the transmission of all the accumulated knowledge of Human kind would be impossible. To give a practical example, imagine the field of science without books. Every time there is a new discovery made about some aspect of the cosmos, or about how to help improve the health and well-being of humans through medicine, there would be no reliable way to save that information other than by trying to remember it. If experts in a certain field died, a lot of their knowledge may die with them. Humans would constantly have to re-do experiments and re-learn information because they have no other source to go back to in order to confirm that their memory served them correctly. Humans would not be able to construct ‘stair cases’ of knowledge, which basically means that, humans would not have a foundation that they can build on, and taking the ‘next step’ would be impossible. Luckily, this incredible void was filled by the art of written word!

                Written word helped Humans to store incredible amounts of information reliably. Now that the information that was collected by Humans was safely stored, the proceeding generation would have a body of information that they could take, analyze, revise, correct, and add to. This allows for an exponential growth in knowledge, because if the first step of the stair case is done, then we only need to help build the second step, those after us build the third step, and so on. Having eliminated the need for constant regression, the potential for growth becomes infinite. 

            Reading is also an essential part of everyday life! We must learn to read if we want to access all the information that has been stored in the form of written word. We use our ability to read everyday. We use our ability to read when we want to cook and thus need to follow a recipe in order to create a lovely meal. We need to read when we leave our houses and are surround by words everywhere, from stop signs, to street signs, among many others. These are just some of the numerous amount of reasons why in my opinion it is absolutely essential for students to learn how to read.

            Reading does not always have to have a practical purpose. Reading can be very pleasurable as well, and there are actually many people who enjoy reading as a relaxing hobby. There are many novels that engage the reader’s imagination and seemingly teleports them to magnificent places they’ve never before experienced. This delightful aspect of reading is also a very important one to remember. Interestingly enough, although initially one might only be reading for ‘fun’ and as a means of relaxation, they might soon after find themselves working on a project of some sort as a result of something very inspiring they have read.

            While a student is in school, regardless of what their favorite subject is, whether it be science, or history, or mathematics (maybe with the exception of gym and art) they will have to read. Therefore, if students do not have a good grasp of reading, and are not comfortable with reading, they unfortunately become severely inhibited in their ability to become life-long learners. It not only holds them back in the literacy classroom, or in any other classroom for that matter, but it hold them back in life and makes things a lot more difficult than they need to be. Hopefully if students could be made aware of these things at an early age, it will inspire them to want to learn to read no matter how difficult the challenge, because they know it’ll all be worth it in the end!