Reading Widel
Reading only what one can relate to, erodes history, isolating a student from world affairs. This kills the educative purpose of books, which is to expose students to a diversity of cultures and occurrences. Instead of exposing students to what they can relate to; students should be introduced to stories on other cultures and ideas outside their experience to broaden their perspective of the entire world. A diversity of stories jungle the mind broadens ones perception and give students a different approach to life (Bruns 21). Reading widely gives one a glimpse into other cultures and places, broadening one’s knowledge of the world. Stories about other cultures and places, both real and fiction empower one to think outside the box and develop a comprehensive approach about life in general. Reading what one can relate to is inadequate in that there is nothing new to learn kills imagination and lacks motivation. This also limits a student’s imagination and creativity and creates an illusionary perception about the world.
The present cannot exist without the past, thus, for students to understand the events of “here and now”, they need an understanding of the past. This knowledge can only be found in books relating to the past. For example, students need to read about the first and Second World War for them to understand current economic trends, religion, and civil relationships. Historical books thus bridge the gap between the past and present for students. Books are custodians of culture, and it is fundamental for students to gain insight into the origins of culture. Readings across time and culture help to shape the character of students by developing personal skills like self-esteem and self-discipline. Students exercise self-discipline when they dedicate their time to read through a book, understand the context and apply it to social aspects of life.
Comparison of Movies and Books
Movies are slowly replacing short stories (Halsted 188). Unfortunately, movies are short, leave little to imagination, are limited in scope, suffer from immediacy and shallowness and mostly serve as entertainment. Short stories, on the other hand, have themes that transcend across time and border, inspire imagination and encourage participation (Bruns 21-23; Halsted 189). For example, in order to “see” Paley’s subway car and Baldwin’s nightclub, one has to visualize the car color, feel the mood in the crowd, and hear the music in the club. Books, unlike movies, develop a student’s skills in concentration and focus, as well as encourage self-discipline. Books are portable and can be read anywhere and at one’s pace and convenience. This makes it an appealing and a more desirable learning tool.
Blogs
Although blogs are a fast and summarized way of understanding the human condition, they are inadequate in that they lack detail and more often than not are subjective. Blogs express the writer’s feelings, perspective and address a condition. Books provide deeper information, have a strong research background, are abroad and cover all aspects of human life. For example, Shakespeare’s writings cover life as it is, politics, love and war, a blog such as “le love” would only talk about love. Although blogs are faster and easy to read, they give shallow and often unreliable information sources of creditable knowledge on human conditions.
Books will thus remain a preservative of culture, more informative and motivators of creativity, as opposed to media such as movies and blogs.
Works Cited
Bruns, Cristina V. Why Literature? The Value of Literary Reading and What It Means for Teaching. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011. Print.
Halsted, Judith W. My Best Friends are Books. Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School. 3rd ed. Scottsdale: Great Potential Press, Inc. 2009. Print.