close

Time for us to appreciate our literacy

By Teghan Simonton columnist 6 min read

One day early in the semester, my roommate brought me a bookmark that she had found in Eberly Library. 

It had the word, “bibliophile” scrawled across a decorative pattern.

“You get it?” she said, far too excited about the situation. “Like ‘pedophile’ but with books! It’s so you!”

While my roommate is a complete dork, she wasn’t wrong. 

My desk is cluttered with stacks on stacks of books, newspapers and literary magazines. I have a wide range of genres covered-biographies, literature, reviews and journalism.

Most of the time if I get a text from my mother, it is just to inform me of another book that I should add to my running list. 

I guess I’ve developed a reputation.

I like to read. I’ve always liked to read. 

I remember it being a central part of my childhood and education-we used to have book fairs in elementary and middle school, along with read-a-thons, “Reading Rainbow” videos and elaborate independent reading projects. 

I loved all of it.

Then came high school.

It makes perfect sense to me that a greater emphasis is placed on fields relating to science and technology. High school students today are strongly pushed in that direction because of the job prospects and high demand. 

But, I confess, it bothers me that literacy is increasingly undervalued. Students nowadays no longer have either the enjoyment or the skill for reading. They see it as boring; a chore.

There is no denying that reading the gibberish in my biology textbook makes me want to die, but I still do not understand why reading in a general sense is not deemed as valuable in American education or society.

 There are countries in Africa and Asia where the written word is the most sacred thing to a child. The ability to read is the essential precursor to all other education (you can’t study biology if you can’t read that horrible textbook). 

And in a lot of cultures, especially places like Cambodia, Nepal and South Africa, political upheaval and infrastructure issues prevent children from ever learning.

But I think that literacy is important to people of all ages. It teaches self-awareness, insight and social understanding. 

It allows you to make analyses in your head and learn to make connections with other people.

While elusive to a large population of the world, literacy is still considered a human right by the United Nations. 

I think it is one that people in America regularly take for granted.

I know that the ability to read and excitement to read are two very different things. 

I am not trying to convince all science majors to switch to English or journalism, but it saddens me to think that children are growing up in front of a television screen, forfeiting their critical thinking skills and intuition. 

It is heartbreaking to think about the shelves upon shelves of books that most will never even hear of, an increasingly irrelevant medium in our fast-paced society.

I guess I would just like to challenge people everywhere to pick up a book every once in a while. 

It does not matter the genre or topic, because there is something out there for everyone. 

It is worth it to challenge yourself and have more interactive entertainment. 

Appreciate the gift you have been given in this ability, because there are many people in the world who would struggle to get through the first sentence of this column.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today