Preview

English

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1118 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
English
-------------------------------------------------
Why Is Reading Important?
From time to time people have wondered why reading is important. There seems so many other things to do with one's time. Reading is important for a variety of reasons. We will look at some of those fundamental reasons below, but it is important to realize that struggling with vital reading skills in not a sign a low intelligence. For example, John Corcoran, who wrote The Teacher Who Couldn't Read, is a very intelligent man. He graduated from High School and College, became a popular High School teacher and later a successful business man all without being able to read. Many highly intelligent people have struggled with reading although, when properly taught, most people can learn to read easily and quickly.
Now, if a man like John Corcoran can succeed without reading, why is reading important? A person should really read Mr. Corcoran's story to get the feeling of shame, loneliness and fear that he experienced before he learned to read. He was able to succeed in spite of this major handicap because he was a man of intelligence, ability and determination. But, make no mistake, it was a handicap that made life harder and less enjoyable. [Those that are interested in helping children learn to read may consider a degree from Concordia University online.]
-------------------------------------------------
Why Is Reading Important?
1. Reading is fundamental to function in today's society. There are many adults who cannot read well enough to understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. That is a scary thought - especially for their children. Filling out applications becomes impossible without help. Reading road or warning signs is difficult. Even following a map becomes a chore. Day-to-day activities that many people take for granted become a source of frustration, anger and fear.
2. Reading is a vital skill in finding a good job. Many well-paying jobs require reading as a part of job

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    No matter how young or old you are knowing how to read is a powerful tool. Reading provides you with an imagination and the ability to escape into another world. You gain the courage and confidence to speak in front of groups. And reading allows you the opportunity to write and empower others. As Dr. Suess said, “the more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    JNT2 Task 1 Needs Analysis

    • 2841 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Many students who struggle with reading ask why should we read, what is the point? The point is that being able to read opens you up a whole new world of knowledge and imagination. But to have that new world opened up you need to be able to comprehend what you are reading. The primary goal of reading is to determine the meaning of what the writer is communicating and make the most of that information. That’s why reading comprehension skills are so important. Without them the reader cannot gather any information and use it to efficiently function and enjoy the richness of life (Marshall).…

    • 2841 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Reading and writing are essential skills in modern life. These are used often in everyday life, e.g. when shopping it is important to be able to read signs and labels and be able to work out values and amounts. Being able to read develops child’s vocabulary, this is a skill children will learn over a period of time. Children…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kingsolver, Wolkomir

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Making Up For Lost Time: The rewards Of Reading At Last by Richard Wolkomir discusses the importance in reading. In this story Ken Adams is a 64 man from Vermont who never learned how to read, so now he finally decides to get tutored to learn to read. When Adams went to school the classes where so big they barely noticed his learning disability so he just keep going to the next grade. Luckily for Adam he was good at his job so, his boss just read everything for him. Wolkomir expresses how hard it is to teach someone older how to read, with this said it is very important to learn how to read when young. Now because of Wolkomir’s help, Adam can now read, even if it might take him a while to sound out the…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Literacy and Young People

    • 1795 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The progression of literacy skills is a vital aspect of development and learning. Without the ability to read, write and listen children and young people may not be able to function effectively in school, college, university or at work or communicate with others about their ideas and participate fully and safely in the community. Literacy enables children and young people to express themselves creatively and productively.…

    • 1795 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A few weeks ago, I was walking downtown, when this random came up to me and said “You in school? That’s good, that’s good. Education is important.” From the state of her hair and clothes, and the smell of her breath, I assumed she was homeless. I didn’t really pay much attention to her, because homeless people are so common in downtown Atlanta. I was just hoping that she wasn’t going to ask me for any money! After a while, I started thinking about what the homeless woman had said; “Education is important.” Growing up, I had always been taught that people who lived in the streets had been afforded the same opportunities as I had, but they had simply chosen to ignore them. So, if this woman had basically thrown away her life, why was she here preaching to me that education was important? How far had she gotten with her education? Was she like my great-grandmother, and lacked the skills to read and write? Literacy isn’t something that I spend a lot of time thinking about, mainly because all of the people that I surround myself and the people they surround themselves with are all capable of reading at proficient levels. Of course, I was always aware that some people had disabilities that made it harder to read, like dyslexia, but it never occurred to me that some of them allowed for the hindrance to completely turn them off to reading. Is it possible that I have been taking my literacy skills for granted? In this paper, I plan to explore literacy in America, and how it compares to the value other nations put on literacy and even our own country before public schools were instituted.…

    • 1795 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Blablabla

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The ability to read gets you farther in life than one will ever realize. It is a skill that we all take for granted at one point or another. The great think about the human mind is, the more we use it the stronger it gets. If you want to re... Read More »…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dana Gioia Summary

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dana Gioia offers convincing argument on the importance of reading, which has been dramatically declining for decades. In fact, an ability to read critically is fundamental for social interactions, range of thinking and even sustainability of society. To build the argument profoundly, author uses variety of facts and studies, personal anecdote and conclusions.…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A person who faces such challenges when it comes to learning how to read can best tell his or her story on the success of reaching such an accomplishment. Having someone like that to speak can be, and inspiration to those who are willing but yet lack the desire to learn. It is necessary to give those in need a role model who was once just like them but was able to reach their educational goals (Belzer, 2002). With the help of those individuals who face adult literacy, they can provide a service to educators on the best way to teach…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Anyone could list why it is important for someone to be literate. However, besides from the obvious “it is important to know to speak and to read,” there are many instances where knowledge has proven to be everything one needs. Frederick Douglas is an example of this kind of success. Throughout Frederick Douglas’s life, the most important factor to his success was that he learned to read and he learned rhetoric. Its significance is that because of these skills he learned, it led to the doors of his freedom allowing him to be a major success model for the people of…

    • 102 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is a huge problem we have here in the United States because “according to a study that was conducted by the Department of Education, 32 million adults in the United States cannot read, that is almost 14 percent of the population, in addition another 21 percent of the people can only read below a 5th grade level, and also 19 percent of high school graduates cannot read.” This rate have not changed in the past 10 years and that is unacceptable because there are so many opportunities that we can take advantage of and we do not just because we tell ourselves “I do not need this”, which is not true, we need as much education as we can so we can have a better society. In addition to this the article also mention that, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence and crime is welded to reading failure” Many people think because they do not know how to read or write that gives them an excuse to commit different crimes but that is not true, you can better yourself if you really want…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reading means the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message. How does a person that doesn’t know how to read make it through one day? Being literate is one of the most important skills to have. It’s something that is needed on a day to day basis. In the article “Superman and me” by Sherman Alexie, he shares his story about how he became a great reader and writer. He shows how important is to be literate in today’s society. While I recognized some differences to Sherman Alexie’s story to literacy at home, but I can identify myself with some parts of hs story at school.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dear Grace Literacy is crucial to the success of individuals in both their career aspirations and their quality of life. Strong literacy skills are closely linked to the probability of having a good job, decent earnings, and access to training opportunities. Individuals with weak literacy skills are more likely to be unemployed or, if employed, to be in jobs that pay little or that offer poor hours or working conditions. Traditionally, literacy has referred to the ability to read, understand, and use information. But the term has come to take on broader meaning, standing for a range of knowledge, skills and abilities relating to reading, mathematics, science and more.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe that the reason to why we read is to educate ourselves and also, sometimes, to enter a fantasy world. What I live by is that you need an education to be successful. The reason I read is to educate myself so that I can broaden my way of thinking and expand my knowledge. With a greater knowledge of what is out there in the world, that will make it easier to be successful, not only for myself, but for everyone. There is no way that an individual without the ability to read can be accepted into university, let alone, finish elementary school. Reading is essential for learning not only the school curriculum, but for life as well. Keeping up with the economy, reading news papers, reading instructions, reading street signs, are all a must. Murphy states that reading is not a must, but it makes life easier. I agree with some aspects of this statement, but I also disagree. Yes, reading does make life easier, however I do not know how it would be possible to be a part of a community without the ability to read, with the exceptions of infants because they have their parents there to guide them. To walk in a community, not being able to read what is around them – not knowing where streets are, or what stores are what. This is not only an inconvenience to the person themselves, but to people around them…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Reading is one of the most important skills a learner must acquire in life. Statistics show that students who are behind in reading…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays