The face of education is changing over time. Education is hanging on the edge by a thread because as technology advances, certain individuals are not taking education seriously as others. It is an easy thing to do for some individuals to go on internet and find answers to any problems they might have, but it takes a smart person to actually read for the answer. This seems to be the problem today. Furthermore, people are not reading their books and they are acquiring less and less intellectual knowledge, which is undoubtedly hurting our society. Books need to be read because they contain important information that will brighten people’s intelligence, and will not mess with their head like the internet.
Because of internet sites like google or spark notes, books are known but are not being read. In a matter of seconds, we are able to locate an answer. But what’s the point of getting the answer if you’re not learning? That’s what is different about books. You have to read in order to actually find the answer. You will never be clever if you don’t read. No matter where you get your education, you will be required to read books, which is a good thing. Throughout your education books will be good for acquiring a better understanding of education. Professors don’t just make you buy books to torture you. They make you buy them because they know that they will not only help you learn from them but you will gain more knowledge for the future. Not all books are boring and there is all sort of types of books. They vary from primary sources to secondary sources to fiction and nonfiction. Some authors make their books interesting so they don’t bore you. It’s good to learn from books because they don’t lie like some things on the internet for ...
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... find the answer which you’re gaining knowledge from it.
We can’t stop the technological advancements, but we can start to enrich our minds with more books being read. It not only benefits you but our society as well. Just think about it. A person can read their books and get A’s in their classes, or you don’t read and fail the class making your percentage of dropping out of college more effective. Once you read a book, you can share your knowledge to the world and spread it. Next time before picking up a game controller or a remote, pick up a book and start reading it because a book is a blessing.
Works Cited
Douglass, Frederick. “Learning to Read.” Reading the World: Ideas that Matter. Ed. Michael Austin. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. 46-52. Print.
“J Song- Hooked on Phonics Lean to Read Pre-K.” YouTube. YouTube, 18 Sept. 2009. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
As I grew up learning to read was something I learned in school, yet for Sherman Alexie and Malcolm X can’t say the same. These two amazing authors taught themselves, at different stages of their lives, to read. In Sherman Alexie’s essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” and Malcolm X’s essay “Learning to Read” they both explain the trials and experiences they went through that encouraged them to work to achieve literacy.
One day, Douglass eavesdrops on him and Mrs. Auld’s conversation. Mr. Auld persuades her that reading “could do him (Douglass) no good, but a great deal of harm.” (page 39) This antithesis along with the rest of his statement makes Douglass come to the realization that literacy is equated with not only individual consciousness but also freedom. From that day on, Douglass makes it his goal to learn as much as he can, eventually learning how to write,
Kids today, or people that have never read before, see the fascination of books and develop a curiosity and desire to read. Frederick Douglass is an example of that same desire. Before learning to read, Frederick believed that black people were destined to be the white man’s slaves. It was normal for slaves to do back-breaking work and get whipped for doing anything wrong. It wasn’t until Douglass learned to read that the life of a slave was actually wrong and he wished to live a free life. “Suddenly, Douglass sees this whole education thing in a new light: if he can learn to read, he reasons, he won't have to be a slave anymore.”(Shmoop) It is highly illegal for anyone to keep or ev...
... and unhappy (Douglass 78).” Learning how to read was as big a step towards freedom for Douglass as it was back. It made him aware of the circumstances but it also made him realize how difficult it would be for him to ever find himself a free man. However, knowledge overpowers ignorance in the sense that his masters could never take his ability to read away from him and because Douglass now knew his condition, he knew that he deserved a better life.
Along with family and religion, education is one of the most important aspects in society. Fredrick Douglass realized the importance of a good education by learning to read and later becoming a writer, author and advocate of African Americans, women, and many others. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, we learn the significance and importance of Douglass learning to read, the affect the institution of slavery had on both whites and blacks, and why learning to read threatened the institution of slavery in general.
Douglass was motivated to learn how to read by hearing his master condemn the education of slaves. Mr. Auld declared that an education would “spoil” him and “forever unfit him to be a slave” (2054). He believed that the ability to read makes a slave “unmanageable” and “discontented” (2054). Douglass discovered that the “white man’s power to enslave the black man” (2054) was in his literacy and education. As long as the slaves are ignorant, they would be resigned to their fate. However, if the slaves are educated, they would understand that they are as fully human as the white men and realize the unfairness of their treatment. Education is like a forbidden fruit to the slave; therefore, the slave owners guard against this knowledge of good and evil. Nevertheless, D...
"Anyone who desires to learn need only pick up the book and read, it is that simple", stated Mortimer J. Adler (...). This can be appliable though, in people who know how to read. Frederick Douglass, a black slave, desired to be educated and literate but he had to face many obstacles to achieve this. His essay "Learning to Read and Write" describes his attempts of getting literate and how he finally achieved his goal. Douglass' essay should not be included in Adler's list of Great Books, but instead it should be considered a good book, because it fullfils only one of the three criteria that Adler sets, this of "contemporary significance" (...) and does not fulfill the rest two, the one of "rereadability" and this of "relevance to a very large number of great ideas"(...).
Sussman, Henry. Around the Book: Systems and Literacy. New York: Fordham UP, 2011. Questia School. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
“I would at time feel that learning to read and write had been a curse rather than a blessing.” In the Autobiography The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass An American Slave by Fredrick Douglass, Fredrick unfolds his journey being a young boy that is born into slavery, believing that it was normal, and was educated by his Mistress. His Mistress was able to teach him the alphabet before Fredrick’s Master, the mistress’ husband, disclosed the “lessons”. Being that it was forbidden to educate slaves in their society, the Master warned his wife that if anyone found out that she was educating a slave there would be consequences. Since Fredrick had at least knew his alphabet, he knew that he could learn more, where his motivation to expand his literacy, was awoken.
Slaveowners during the mid 19th century treated their slaves as nothing more than laboring animals, for the one and only purpose of carrying out their “masters” orders. But literacy was not coincidentally separated from the slaves lives. “Mr. Auld found out and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read “(45). This quote occurs in the book, when Douglass’s new owner Mrs. Auld (whom is new to slave owning), teaches Douglass to read. Mr. Auld finds out and forbids Mrs. Auld to teach him further. Mr. Auld describes teaching slaves to read as unlawful and unsafe. To describe something as unsafe, is to imply it has the power to threaten someone or somethings safety. In this case the safety is the white mans ability to control and suppress slaves. Douglass from this experience is disappointed that his education has been interrupted. Even though it becomes more difficult to learn to read after that, Douglass learns something even more important from the experience: the mysterious power of education. The fact that Mr. Auld doesn 't want him to read, shows him that there 's something valuable there, making him want to learn to read even more. “… if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read,
In the essay “Learning to Read and Write,” Frederick Douglass illustrates how he successfully overcome the tremendous difficulties to become literate. He also explains the injustice between slavers and slaveholders. Douglass believes that education is the key to freedom for slavers. Similarly, many of us regard education as the path to achieve a career from a job.
During the days of Frederick Douglass, and his conversion from a slave sneaking books to his rise as revolutionary abolitionist in comparison to today’s modern communication with technology, we see that literacy builds the foundation for success. Personally, in my own history regarding literacy, the one novel I feel to have impacted me the most is the highly acclaimed novel: Bud not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (1999). It was through the powerful message of independence and belonging did Curtis make an impact on my reading and writing. However, Bud, not Buddy did not just have a great effect on me as a writer, it mirrored me as the person I see myself today.
Imagine if you will, that you are In Ray Bradbury's, Fahrenheit 451 which is a book about a dystopian society and that makes the world suck because dystopian societies are like a torture town there is no freedom everyone knows what you are doing. But in the book It makes you imagine that you have to live your life without books, you probably wouldn't be reading this if you had to live your life without books. But believe me, you need books, you might not want to read them now but it's because you have the choice to read them whenever you want. If you didn't have the choice or the opportunity to read you would miss books and wish you had one or could read one because someone told you you couldn't read. But in this future you can't, do you really want that to not be able to read or even look at a book? In this future books are forbidden and the people can't read them because of censorship so imagine you wanted a good book to read so you can be on the path to a smart and fulfilling future and you needed to the ability to get a book to learn how to do
In an age of rapid change due to so many technology and innovative advances, a revolutionary change in the educational system is as vital as what our next energy source is. Education is the most powerful wealth in the world and it demands more attention, and where better to start with than out youth. The school system will soon go out of date due to the information highway and information availability if there isn?t a dramatic change in the way things are run in our domestic institutional facilities. The reason why college was such a success in the 20th century was because books were all of a sudden available to students on university campus. Now with internet, a student could specialize their profession solely with the computer with the click of a button. Something needs to be done to smoothen the rigid gaps and cracks in the school system before the technological pace at which we are advancing decides to bring the whole thing down.
Education is a vital part of society. It serves the beneficial purpose of educating our children and getting them ready to be productive adults in today's society. But, the social institution of education is not without its problems. Continual efforts to modify and improve the system need to be made, if we are to reap the highest benefits that education has to offer to our children and our society as a whole.