The Importance of Reading
Name
ProfWRT 150.18
26 October 2013
The Importance of Reading
Mark Twain once said that “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” Reading is one of the most powerful skills sets a person can have, yet almost all students who have access to good books, shamelessly take little advantage of them. Children who are growing up in the digital age are reading less and less, but can we blame them? The children of this era are growing up immediately immersed in the wave of technology and seemingly have no choice but to be sucked down under by the continuously changing current. This wretchedly means that books are left wet and unused, on the shoreline. The increasing usage of technology and the decrease of reading is hurting the development of children in not only the category of reading itself, but also writing and social skills. The importance of reading desperately needs acknowledgement. When we live in a time where technology is directly effecting the education of students in an adverse manner, there should be greater emphasis put on the importance of reading for pleasure in order to counteract the declining abilities of students.
The author of Study Finds Reading for Pleasure Puts Child Ahead in the Classroom, an inside look at the study The Role of Reading, reveals how “children who read for pleasure are likely to do significantly better at school than their peers” (“Study on Reading”). The study carried out by Alice Sullivan and Matt Brown, divulges how reading can not only help children to gain higher scores in reading, but also vocabulary, spelling and math. Sullivan and Brown looked at what types of reading and at what ages in specific helped to improve scores. The typical scenario was this. Younger children who have parents who read stories and novels are more likely to continue reading on their own for pleasure throughout adolescents. These children were the children who had the highest scores on the
ProfWRT 150.18
26 October 2013
The Importance of Reading
Mark Twain once said that “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” Reading is one of the most powerful skills sets a person can have, yet almost all students who have access to good books, shamelessly take little advantage of them. Children who are growing up in the digital age are reading less and less, but can we blame them? The children of this era are growing up immediately immersed in the wave of technology and seemingly have no choice but to be sucked down under by the continuously changing current. This wretchedly means that books are left wet and unused, on the shoreline. The increasing usage of technology and the decrease of reading is hurting the development of children in not only the category of reading itself, but also writing and social skills. The importance of reading desperately needs acknowledgement. When we live in a time where technology is directly effecting the education of students in an adverse manner, there should be greater emphasis put on the importance of reading for pleasure in order to counteract the declining abilities of students.
The author of Study Finds Reading for Pleasure Puts Child Ahead in the Classroom, an inside look at the study The Role of Reading, reveals how “children who read for pleasure are likely to do significantly better at school than their peers” (“Study on Reading”). The study carried out by Alice Sullivan and Matt Brown, divulges how reading can not only help children to gain higher scores in reading, but also vocabulary, spelling and math. Sullivan and Brown looked at what types of reading and at what ages in specific helped to improve scores. The typical scenario was this. Younger children who have parents who read stories and novels are more likely to continue reading on their own for pleasure throughout adolescents. These children were the children who had the highest scores on the
Cited: Anton, Corey. “The Practices of Reading Good Books.” Reflect, Connect, Engage. Ed. Juddy Whipps. Maine: XanEdu, 2013. 109-23. Print. Liberal Education at GVSU Martin, Alice. "The 4 Negative Side Effects Of Technology." Edudemic. 30 May 2013. Web. Oct. 2013. Rowe, Stephen C. “A Meditation on Reading.” Reflect, Connect, Engage. Ed. Juddy Whipps. Maine: XanEdu, 2013. 172-76. Print. Liberal Education at GVSU "Study Find Reading for Pleasure Puts Children Ahead in Classroom." News. Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education. 11 Sept. 2013. Web. Oct. 2013.