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| Tuesday, 12 October 2004 |
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Are we reading enough?
Unfortunately, not everyone in Sri Lanka is a prolific reader like me. According to recent Central Bank statistics there are only 29 daily newspapers per 1000 people in Sri Lanka, while the numbers for India and Bangladesh are lot higher at 60 and 53.This is shocking news to me, because I thought we have one of the highest levels of literacy in the region (92.4 per cent in 2003).
The local educationalists blame television, the movies, and the Internet for the decline in reading. But the Internet also promotes reading. On any given day, just by going online, I can read newspapers from around the world, articles on various subjects, and email from 101 companies. But reading isn't always easy. We've all encountered texts that may have made us shake our heads, stop, reread-or even toss the book down in frustration. What skills do we use in such situations? Major factors All the while, we have been launching extensive literacy campaigns, in the sense of teaching people to write and to read. But knowledge of characters and reading techniques alone are not sufficient to develop real reading societies. People should be motivated to read and informed how to utilize reading materials to improve their own personality and their social environment. In Sri Lanka, I believe, there are three major factors that present hinder the promotion of reading: 1. We are not a reading society but basically a chatting society. Maybe, due to the cultural habit of our people, we prefer to listening and chatting more than reading. 2. We do not have sufficient libraries; public libraries and school libraries particularly in rural areas. We do not have sufficient collection of books and reading materials for public's use or students' use. 3. Most of our families have only a limited budget, funding a bare minimum collection resources. TV and parents TV's potential effect on children's reading performance has become an issue of growing concern among education and often cited as a cause for the decline in reading if children spent amount of their viewing time only programs which entertain rather than educate. Parents are clearly important socialising agents. Parents who spend time reading to their children are giving those kids the best possible start on the road to literacy. Many research studies have pointed out that the children who do best in literacy skills at school are those who come from homes where there are books, where their parents spend time reading to their children and where children see their parents and older siblings engage in reading activities. Suggestions Looking at the other end of the spectrum, research shows that if you read ten books a year, you are in the top few per cent of all people as readers. Simply stated, it doesn't take much to be well read, but we do need to know how to get started. Kevin Eikenberry, the famous author, offers the following ten suggestions to help you strengthen your reading habit - ways to find and make more time for reading. 1. Always have a book around. Don't go anywhere without reading material. Always have something in your bag or briefcase to read. Keep a book(s) by your bed. Having things available makes it easier for you to steal otherwise lost moments. 2. Set a reading goal. Determine how much time you want to spend reading, or how many books you want to read over time. Your goal might be a book a month, one per week, or it might be to read 30 minutes a day. Setting a goal is the first step towards reading more. 3. Keep a log. Keep a list of the books you have read, or keep track of how much time you read each day. You might keep these lists in your journal or your day planner. My list and log are kept on my computer. It doesn't matter where you keep it, just do it. 4. Keep a list. Make a list of things you want to read in the future. Ask your friends and colleagues what they are reading. Watch for recommendations in the newspaper and magazines. Once you start looking for good books, you'll find them everywhere. 5. Turn off the television. Many people say they just don't have enough time. Television is one of our major time consumers. Make your television watching more conscious and less habitual. 6. Visit the library or bookstore often. You have your list, right? So you'll have some idea of what you are looking for when you walk in. But there is more to be gained by walking through places where books reside than just to make a transaction. Take time to browse! Let your eyes find things on interest. Let serendipity happen. Browsing will feed your mental need to read, and give you plenty of new things to read. 7. Build your own strategy. Decide when reading fits your schedule. Some people read first thing in the morning, some before bed. Some decide to read as they eat their lunch. And there is more to your strategy than just time. Determine what works best for you, develop your own beliefs and ideas-then make them work for you. Not alone However, reading has probably survived a plethora of distractions and has yet maintained to be some of choicest hobbies one would choose to possess! Avid readers tend to have a better grasp on realities and are known to be better judges of people. Of course the type of books you read quite generally depends on your attitude and personality! But reading as a habit has always allowed to nurture a wholesome sense of well being. And as we age the books also tend to age with us. With our professional lifestyles, it's difficult to manage a non-fiction, with deadlines set for the next day's presentation. After all who'd want a taste of the boss's ire. Many of us miss out on reading in this very manner and sadly it is only in times of sorrow or grief that we seek refuge in reading some sensible stuff that is either in the form of a 'Live it up!'. book or some of us might be inclined towards religion. From all of this I can only conclude that if you choose to make reading your constant companion, you'll never walk alone. Besides you'll have more to discover in life than you'd ever thought about. Think about it, somewhere, in some bright corner of the world, there's some book waiting for you. I have in my log book what the American Educationist May Hill Arbuthnot once told a group of university students. He said, "Books are no substitute for living, but they can add immeasurably to its richness. When life is absorbing, books enhance our sense of its significance. When life is difficult, they can give us momentary release from trouble or a new insight into our problems, or provide the rest and refreshment we need. Books have always been a source of information, comfort and pleasure for people who know how to use them." How right he was! |
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Produced by Lake House |
I was a kid who read so much that I have wandered many a times through
traffic and fallen into holes, a book poised before my face. I have
developed rather shocking table manners while reading during dinner, my
mother in despair as I smuggled books into the bathroom. I was an extreme
case: a book junkie.
