Is the disregard for reading and writing all due to the rise of advanced technology? Is ChatGPT to blame for students not completing their assigned reading? Is it the root of students scamming English assignments and countless class papers? Or does the legitimate reasoning go beyond these new generative tools? Have people just chosen to move on from these necessary skills due to personal judgment and skewed views on the subject of the humanities? People overlook reading and writing skills and have deemed them as unimportant and selective skills, set aside for those who are directly involved in this line of work.
I see excuses for the disposal of these skills as unjustified. In the United States, we have an abundance of resources in the palm of our hands. There are 17,278 public libraries within our country, without even mentioning the stream of online opportunities that anyone with a device is open to using. Libraries have the potential to be a portal into multitudes of different stories of anything you could imagine — all sorts of information — that we are lucky to be granted access to. I see too many peers and strangers on social media ignoring this advantage. Walking up to a stranger and asking them the last time they sat down and read a book would likely result in the typical response, which is somewhere along the lines of: they haven’t.
Reading is a mastery that is neglected by so many. What these people fail to pick up on is that the utilization of this strength would lead to improved conversation in your life, a natural expansion of your vocabulary and the growth of background knowledge for us to carry on throughout our time. No matter what genre you choose to digest, I promise it is always net positive. Consuming ideas and stories written with the intention of having an impact on the reader is a special experience, a tradition that should carry on.
Absorbing and interpreting texts and stories is what keeps us sharp and, more importantly, educated. Don’t let once-in-a-lifetime cultural and ongoing historic moments pass you by because you don’t want to be caught with your nose to a book or even a newspaper.
Let’s take a step back and zoom out of our privileged perspective. Those living in impoverished, underfunded countries dream of a world with free access to texts and the ability to learn reading and writing. There are numerous countries with literacy rates below 30% of their population. You could imagine their desire to become educated with skill sets that we can come across so easily. Do not ignore your right to literacy, but instead, harness this skill and be willing to use it.
As citizens and contributors, we have countless personal duties. Consider your own government. Within the world of politics, your knowledge and power to have a voice in voting comes from your ability to understand what is at stake and speak for yourself, and it is up to you to learn. Reading and writing are at the center of all things important in our lives. We are expected to be able to advocate for ourselves, and it is a privilege to be able to do so for others. This is why the advancement of reading and writing skills should be on a pedestal along with all other academic subjects that people seem to have no problem paying their respects to.
We need readers and writers and all things humanities in order to progress as a society, just as much as we require other professions, whether that be the architects or the accountants of the world. Communication skills are essential to record and consume culture, and furthermore allow for personal and professional growth. Grow your resume, expand your knowledge and seek awareness of all ideas. The only person being limited is you by denying yourself these skills.
Isabell Norman is a freshman at UT studying journalism. She can be reached at [email protected].
Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.
