In light of the teacher strikes in Chicago, we’d like to reiterate that the future of America’s youth lies in two sets of hands: those of the educator and those of the student.
A greater focus on reading must become mandatory, not optional, in our public schools.
Reading is not only important to the study of literature, but it is the gateway to all disciplines at every education level. One cannot properly solve a math problem if one cannot effectively comprehend the particulars of language. In order to access ideas involved in higher-level sciences, one must be willing — not to mention, able — to read all the discourse that has come before.
The upsurge in recent technological advances has devalued pleasures that were once experienced on a familial level, such as reading and story telling. Instead of reading to children before bedtime, parents now hand their children iPads or send them off to watch television. All of a sudden, it would appear that we’ve omitted reading from the traditions of family and entertainment.
TV has become the superior source of entertainment for youngsters, and while it is surely convenient, it doesn’t actively engage our minds and it doesn’t push our minds into developing. We may shy away from literature that makes us uncomfortable, that pushes us to our intellectual and emotional limits. Books like Mark Twain's “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” force us to interrogate our own racial biases and John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” may bring us to uncomfortable sexual issues, but it is important that we occasionally find ourselves uncomfortable and consequently, challenged.
In order to become critical thinkers, we must consistently put ourselves in situations that challenge our understanding of the world. It is the practice, if you will, that builds intellectual character. All literature, even inflammatory ones, must never be censored.
Television writers have done all the work for us: Characters have been pre-developed and expert hands built sets to mimic ideal environments. Watching television becomes a passive activity, not an active one, as we thoughtlessly receive stimuli rather than creatively generate thoughts we can latch onto.
A good book engages all our senses, including our emotional and mental ones. We develop our own vision of characters and we become emotionally invested in them because we’re the ones who’ve created them. Even educational programs like “Bill Nye the Science Guy” or “The Magic School Bus” only reaffirm that we are looking for instant gratification. We want stories fast; we don’t want to think about it.
Educators aren’t off the hook, though. At an early age, they must create environments hospitable to learning. It seems that they’ve judged too quickly and separated the “smart” kids from the “dumb” kids. Negative reinforcement is just as powerful as positive reinforcement. The student who is told that he or she isn’t “good at reading,” will become convinced and may never be able to be good at reading.
But students who understand how fun reading can be and how important it is — well, who knows how far they can go?
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