Encourage reading among children
THE EDITOR, Madam:
I NEVER entered a classroom until I was seven years and nine months old and never had the luxury of pre-school education. I remember how lost I felt until one day I read voraciously from my Nola Book (first grade reader) to classics like the Pilgrim’s Progress by the time I was in fourth grade. I credit my grandmother because one of the items on her regular Friday trips to the Black River market was to stop by the parish library and bring me reading materials. As I recalled I read every book in my little elementary school library, I read The Children’s Own, old newspaper articles even paper found along the road.
When I became a teacher I went on a campaign to see every child to develop an appetite for reading because I personally found out that vocabulary expands, writing skills are enhanced , creativity increases and imagination expands. Reading is like nutrient that provides academic growth cells, repair brain cells and make you develop a wonder thirst for learning. Parents and teachers should facilitate reading among children if the schools are going to improve overall in their curriculum.
I feel impressed to issue a call to get a programme in place in Jamaican schools to motivate and challenge our students to get hooked on reading. Current trends in this ultra-modern age when knowledge has increased there is a large percentage of students who are leaving school neither numerate nor literate all because, in most cases they would rather be on social media doing things that are neither elevating nor educative. Since JAMAL (Jamaica Movement for the Advancement of Literacy ) has aged and retired I would like to throw out a school reading initiative so that everyone can learn to read and comprehend. It was Walt Disney who said that “there is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island”.
If we are ever going to break the generational cycle of poverty, dent the gun violence culture then we need to begin by creating a reading culture that will improve intelligence, self-esteem, academic and skills success thereby bringing about political, social, spiritual and economic change. Reading should be encouraged and wish I could find some cohorts who could help me get the spark out so we could start a conflagration.
BURNETT ROBINSON blpprob@aol.com