Too many adults cannot read well enough to understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. That’s a scary thought – especially for their children. Filling out applications becomes impossible without help. Reading signs is difficult. Reading helps you function in society.
Many well-paying jobs require reading to perform. Reports and memos must be read and actioned. Poor reading skills reduce performance, limiting what you can accomplish and reduce your earning potential.
The mind is a muscle, and like all muscles, it needs exercise. Reading helps the mind grows in its ability. Teaching young children to read helps them develop their language skills. It also helps them learn to listen. Everybody wants to talk, but few can really listen. Lack of listening skills can result in major misunderstandings which can lead to job loss, marriage breakup, and other disasters – small and great. Reading helps all of us focus on what someone else is communicating.
Books, magazines and even the Internet are great learning tools which require the ability to read and understand the content. A person who can read can educate themselves in any area of life they’re interested in and take control of their continuous learning.
Movies, series and computer games have their place, but they are more amusement. Amusement comes from two words “a” [non] and “muse” [think]. Amusement is non-thinking activities. With reading, you can go anywhere in the world…and beyond.
When reading to children, stop and ask them what they think is going to happen next. At the end, ask them if they can think of a better ending or ways to improve it. Get them thinking creatively. Encourage them to draw the story and another story with the same characters. Reading gets the creative juices flowing.
Non-readers or poor readers often have low opinions of themselves and their abilities, resulting in feeling isolated and inferior as they perform poorly at school and in life. Reading builds knowledge, allowing you to form opinions which builds confidence and self-worth.
As young children learn to sound letters and words out, spelling becomes easier. Also, reading helps to expand the vocabulary. Reading new words and seeing them used in different contexts enhances lexicon much more than the dictionary.
Read, research and build on the good ideas and expose bad ideas. You are, right now, the result of the words you have heard or read and believed about yourself. Words influence people, families, relationships, even nations.
Illiterate people are easier to manipulate and control as they cannot do their own research and thinking. Don’t believe everything you hear. Research the facts. Check your sources. Form your own opinions. Careful of fake news.
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