What will most people be reading in a generation? The distractions every day people face in today 's society are affecting current levels of literacy. The direction we need to be pushed towards will be the top priority of the 21st-century educators. In her essay "Read with Purpose" by Cheryl Barnett-Bey, she proposes that the enjoyment of reading has been replaced by the Internet and television. Just before my teenage years I was introduced to new technology and became less interested in reading books. Throughout my own literacy journey I 've noticed our fast-paced society is slowly turning more and more people into being interested in activities than reading.
According to Barnett-Bey 's essay, "The significance of reading lessens with each
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“Libraries are filled with masterpieces that great authors toiled over to complete, but the pages in the books go untouched by many of us” (Barnett-Bey 333). You may either perceive reading as a privilege or take it for granted. Reading is one of the most fundamental parts of our daily lives, that’s why some people may take it for granted and not even realize it because of how we use it every single day. It is important because it improves concentration, vocabulary, and imagination. People often read for their own entertainment and it improves the mind’s ability to understand ideas, follow arguments and detect implications. The amount of people who are illiterate is astonishing. “The challenge is taking the time to read respectable literature, but it is vital to us as individuals and as a country” (Barnett-Bey 336). I couldn 't imagine how hard illiterate people 's lives must be, living every day and not being able to read simple sentences, read a cookbook and try to learn how to cook or even a sign in a resturant. General wonderings occur to me of how and what people will be reading in a generation, and if it will actually make a difference in their lives. "If we, as a society, do not connect to literature by reading we are missing the very essence of our being" (Barnett-Bey 334).
Reading affects writing and writing affects
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I conjectured that most people will no longer be interested in reading books, but rather interested reading posts on social media, watching videos on the internet or watching tv. Reading is a wonderful blessing that should not be taken for granted. The generation that we are in right now needs to strive to become more educated. To do that we would have to read because reading gets people further in life. Therefore it should make better advancements in our everyday lives and hopefully inspire us to inspire
Gioia identifies all that is at stake in a world where reading is obsolete in his essay On the Importance of Reading. He paints imagery to show the comparisons of readers and non readers as well as the affects literacy and illiteracy have on the world. Gioia asserts his opinions on why reading is losing the battle of popularity. According to Gioia a person who reads is civic-minded, active, empathic, and imaginative. Gioia expresses the opposite benefits are true of illiterate or semi literate people they lead passive lives, are less likely to volunteer, and less imaginative. Among all of these benefits of reading Gioia identifies, he writes in depth about empathy gained through reading. I also feel one of the greatest benefits of reading
Reading is on the decline and our reading skills are declining right along with the amount of reading we do. This is happening right across the board through both genders, all age groups and education levels, people are busy and they just do not have time to read books that they are not required to read for school or work. There are serious consequences to this neglect of reading that will continue to worsen if ignored. We need to take notice of what is happening to our culture and stop this situation from continuing, we must act to correct these issues that we are faced with. These things are discussed in the essay “Staying Awake’’ by Ursula K. Le Guin who uses the NEA essays “To Read or Not to Read’’ and “Reading at Risk’’ to support her argument that there is a decline in the amount of time that we are spending on reading and our ability to understand what it is that we are reading.
Andrew Solomon has some valid arguments in his article, and he tries to persuade the readers through logos, pathos, and ethos. Solomon wants the readers to understand the importance of reading, and how its decline can be harmful to the nation. To reinforce his arguments, Solomon shares a variety of examples, for instance, he mentions that reading helps improve memory and concentration, and the decline of reading is causing mental “atrophy.” He also calls upon the readers to take some sort of action to raise reading rates and help the society. This can grant the readers a form of power and control over the crisis that will lead to an em...
I began to read not out of entertainment but out of curiosity, for in each new book I discovered an element of real life. It is possible that I will learn more about society through literature than I ever will through personal experience. Having lived a safe, relatively sheltered life for only seventeen years, I don’t have much to offer in regards to worldly wisdom. Reading has opened doors to situations I will never encounter myself, giving me a better understanding of others and their situations. Through books, I’ve escaped from slavery, been tried for murder, and lived through the Cambodian genocide. I’ve been an immigrant, permanently disabled, and faced World War II death camps. Without books, I would be a significantly more close-minded person. My perception of the world has been more significantly impacted by the experiences I've gained through literature than those I've gained
If you had the choice between your phone and a book,you would probably without thinking grab your phone. But what if you knew that reading is crucial to a future. In “Reading for pleasure Is in Painful Decline” by Stephen L. Carter and “Twilight of the books” by Caleb Crain, both authors argue about the state of reading in The United States. Within both passages they give valid points as to why and how the state of reading are negatively affecting the country. Stephen L. Carter represents how the decline in reading for fun is the main concern, while on the other hand, Caleb Crain shows it’s technology and social media that actually are the main contributors.
Being literate does not only mean that you understand to read and write. I believe that it’s a way you take advantage of what is given to you. Having the power to understand and acknowledge what is being said and read gives and great advantage of literacy. Graduating with honors from my senior class has given me greater self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment .Now being literate has given me great opportunities such as coming to college and given hope that we can do anything in this world
But the advantages to a more literate society are obvious even when viewing the issue on a more personal level. Literacy is the key to the social world as well as the job market. Individuals who benefit from the increase in literacy rate will be more successful in life and maybe even have higher feelings toward themselves. The vision of a totally literate America is certainly a very promising and positive one.
According to Jeff Magee, “Literacy is an essential aspect of our everyday lives that is embedded in our activities, social interactions & relationships. It is not only the ability to read & write, but to comprehend.” Learning how to read and write is a part of life which means you begin to learn from the day you’re born. As I was reading Frederick Douglass story “Learning to Read,” he spoke about his struggles on learning how to read and write. For example, he ran errands for his master; meanwhile he found kids in the neighborhood to help him learn different words. Literacy will get you through life because it will help with your education, form of talking, and morals.
Books are less common today than they were in the past. Fewer people read for pleasure now that technology is present. One study that shows that today, less than half of seventeen year olds read for pleasure more than once or twice a year. However, sixty-four percent of teens of the same age said they read at least once per week in the year 1984 (Alter). This only goes to show that technology is taking up more of people’s time for reading and other activities that were popular in the past. Overall, books are not as popular now as they once were.
For me, reading as well as rereading, books such as Junie B Jones, Berenstain Bears, or the Harry Potter series, impacted my life immensely by increasing my vocabulary, developing my vital language skills and many more developmental skills. In the past, being literate meant beating kids in how many books I could read and being able to comprehend difficult vocabulary, but now being literate in the adult world means developing new and creative ideas or being able to prosper an opinion based on facts and previous knowledge.
Growing up in working class family, my mom worked all the time for the living of a big family with five kids, and my dad was in re-education camp because of his association with U.S. government before 1975. My grandma was my primary guardian. “Go to study, go to read your books, read anything you like to read if you want to have a better life,” my grandma kept bouncing that phrase in my childhood. It becomes the sole rule for me to have better future. I become curious and wonder what the inside of reading and write can make my life difference. In my old days, there was no computer, no laptop, no phone…etc, to play or to spend time with, other than books. I had no other choice than read, and read and tended to dig deep in science books, math books, and chemistry books. I tended to interest in how the problem was solved. I even used my saving money to buy my own math books to read more problems and how to solve the problem. I remembered that I ended up reading the same math book as my seventh grade teacher. She used to throw the challenge questions on every quiz to pick out the brighter student. There was few students know how to solve those challenge questions. I was the one who fortunately nailed it every single time. My passion and my logic for reading and writing came to me through that experience, and also through my grandma and my mom who plant the seed in me, who want their kids to have happy and better life than they were. In my own dictionary, literacy is not just the ability to read and write, it is a strong foundation to build up the knowledge to have better life, to become who I am today.
In today’s society, a vast number of people are well educated. They have the equal opportunity to choose their own path in life by getting an education. A primary educational aspect of every human being is to learn to read. Being able to read is a primary goal of people in human society, as well as important in itself to society; it takes people far beyond their wildest dreams. A person who is literate has few limitations on what they can do; the world is an open playing field, because a person that is literate has the ability to become very successful in life.
Reading has been a part of my life from the second I was born. All throughout my childhood, my parents read to me, and I loved it. I grew up going to the library and being read to constantly. Especially in the years before Kindergarten, reading was my favorite thing to do. I grew up loving fairy tales and thriving on the knowledge that I could have any book I wanted, to be read to me that night. Having no siblings, my only examples were my parents, and they read constantly. Without a family that supported my love of reading throughout my childhood, I wouldn’t appreciate it nearly as much as I have and do now.
Nowadays, many people think reading is not necessary, since there are so many sources of information and types of entertainment, such as TV, cinema and the Internet. I believe they are wrong because reading is very beneficial in many ways.
Reading – we do it every day. In almost every aspect of our lives and often take it for granted. Reading is essential for human communication and increasing knowledge. However, because reading is so important even a small change can have a significantly large impact on our modern society. We are currently in a midst of a cultural revolution. In which the printed word is being transformed by the digital.