The value of Reading and writing “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” ( John Dewey). John Dewey meant that educating yourself is not to prepare yourself for life, but it’s to set your future life in a better way. Although they have different stories and backgrounds, Mark Mathabane, Richard Rodriguez, and Malcolm X all believe that education and literacy can change everyone’s lives. In order to succeed in life, you need education. Literacy can open new worlds for you, and opportunities you never knew existed. All three authors have had different experiences that lead them to a certain position. Mark Mathabane as a child doesn’t like school but he changes after time from his surroundings and experience, and finding …show more content…
In the beginning, Rodriguez states “ I privately wondered: What was the connection between reading and learning? Did one learn something only by reading it? Was an idea only an idea if it could written down? In June, CONSIDER BOOKS YOUR BEST FRIENDS. Friends? Reading was, at best, only a chore. I needed to look up whole paragraphs of words in a dictionary” (2). In this quote, he questions how does reading and learning go together in order for a person to be smart, it also shows a little of confusion. He also states “Sees strewn around, and reads regularly himself, magazines which are never mentioned at school, which seem not to belong to the world to which the school introduces him; at school he hears about and reads books never mentioned at home”(2). This shows how his reading habits are different than his surroundings for example, school and his home. Rodriguez claims “I tried to explain; said something about the way written words made me feel all alone--almost” (3). In this quote he explains how words made him feel alone. He also states “Didn’t I realize that reading would open up whole new worlds? A book could open doors for me. It could introduce me to people and show me places I never imagined existed” (3).In this phrase, he thinks about things he didn’t realize and starts to think more about what reading can do for him. He claims “Books were going to make me “educated.” That confidence enabled me, several months later, to overcome my fear of the silence” (3). In this quote, he advises himself about what the outcomes of literacy would be, which is educated. He also claims “ (Not until I was in college, as a result, did I read Huckleberry Finn or Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.) Instead, I read The Scarlet Letter and Franklin’s Autobiography” (3). This quote shows the different types of books he has read. Rodriguez says “ Despite my best
Most students from his background when they reached college would have to get serious which meant either pre-law pre-med or a major in business to take over the family business, but it being Graff had no family business and was not interested in medicine or the law he did not and enrolled in the liberal arts. His father pressured him to read more rather than just comic and magazines and even locked him in his room with nothing but a book, but none of it stuck because he was interested in them. The first time he seemed to really enjoy reading was in college when he began reading Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” when he chose to write an essay of it for class and his professor urged him to read of critics that were both for and against it. It was then he realized that even great authors made mistakes that even undergraduates could point
Someone can have a whole library of books in their house but wouldn't know a thing from the book until he or she reads it. When Guy reads a book, this lets him acquire the knowledge in the
I think that this quote is trying to convey, through metaphor, that reading enables an individual to experience the lives and emotions of the characters or people they are reading about. I necessarily don’t agree with this. I think that the power of reading books, fiction or non fiction, is that it improves your life because you can learn lessons from the experiences of the characters or people in them. The important distinction, to me, is that while words are incredibly powerful, they are not an accurate substitution for the raw emotion and reality of the experiences people have undergone. For instance, in Grade 10 I read “Then They Killed My Father” by Loung Ung for my English culminating project.
An apprehension gained mainly by literacy "The answer is...LITERACY"(Wiltse 646). Wiltse states "literacy sounds boring... but it 's really not" and "books have been a big part of who I am"(Wiltse 646). Furthermore, she said "books can take you to a new dimension"(Wiltse 646). A new dimension of knowledge and imagination.
It is especially prominent when he speaks of people who live with dyslexia. An example used is David Boise, a boy who struggled in school and had concerning behavioral issues due to his dyslexia. As a child he thought acting out was the only option, but later on this disorder proved to have a silver lining. Since this disability made him a bad reader, “he had to scramble and adapt and come up with some kind of strategy that allowed him to keep pace with everyone else” (Gladwell 112). For him, this meant becoming a superb listener just to compensate for what his dyslexia caused him to lack.
Throughout the article, she introduces studies which suggest “that literary fiction improves a reader’s capacity to understand what others are thinking and feeling.” (line 3,4) She then explains the results of the test which measures one’s “ability to infer and understand other people’s thoughts and emotions.” (line 9) By using a tone of a lecturer, it drags the reader’s attention to the effects that reading gives someone.
He also wanted to find a book about a slave talking to his master, without getting hurt. He wanted to find out a lot of information on this subject because he wanted to have this happen in his life, so he could become free. That is why he said it was a curse to be able to read because he would not always get
The reading expanded his mind, the more knowledge he gained, which helped him understand the world around him. C. Wright expressed reading was like a drug, a dope. D. Wright found himself in a different world because he started to identify himself with books. IV.
Defend What Is Important; Literacy Undoubtedly, we all had a tangled history with education as we strive to become erudite, but often practicality's nature interrupted our chances of becoming literate. Somewhere along the path of education we miss to intercept some content with the concept and begins to pervert from a discipline of language along with literature. Furthermore, being literate has become a mere ornament as the author Wendell Berry describes "In Defense of Literacy". Berry suggests that it is an absurd idea of that we must defend literacy, but he claims that it is a great necessity.
He supports this argument by citing a study conducted by students who have attended The University College London. The study proved to us that we no longer thoroughly read material, rather we just skim over most of what we read. From the convoluted works of the late 19th century, to the material of present day, the way we write and comprehend
Steinbeck highlights this when the narrator says “He has books too;” These hint to us that he was lucky enough to go to school and he was considered as a bright individual. The
“ fiction helps us understand how other people feel and think.” (“The power of reading: how books help develop children’s empathy and boost their emotional development”). The estimation of the statement is that it has a solid importance about how fiction books help kids. The essentialness of this statement is that books, for example, fiction enables children to see how individuals feel as well as think. Books are a gateway
Science has proven that reading can provoke positive changes in us as human beings. Annie Murphy Paul is the author of the article ‘Your Brain on Fiction’ published on March 17, 2012. Annie explains how researchers have discovered that reading can initiate different parts of the brain, this is the reason why sometimes literature can make the reader so engaged and attached to a piece of writing. Research also explains how reading has the ability to produce activity in our brain’s motor cortex. Finally, Annie explains how reading fictional pieces can change how you interact with other individuals.
The quote written earlier briefly mentions the fun and adventures parts of reading. As the quote says, you can travel the whole world, meet new people and learn new things just by reading, so why not just read? If your reading a well written book you will much easier be able to feel with the characters in the books, you can for instance get angry with them, happy for them and even laugh at them. You can experience and discover so many new feelings by just sitting still in your room
In the context in which he frames literature, the acts of reading