Ever wonder why English is required at all schools every single year? Whether you love the subject or not, English truly benefits us and is needed each year of a child’s education. The skills learned in English class transfer into other classes and areas of our lives.
In the popular Young Adult novel Holes, a sympathetic character named Zero catches the hearts of the reader right away. He’s smaller than the rest of the guys in the teen prison camp, he’s openly called a nobody (hence his nickname Zero), and at the same time he’s a kind soul.
Zero is illiterate; in fact, because he’s illiterate, he didn’t know the shoes he stole were for display only. He couldn’t read the sign. When a new boy comes to camp, Zero notices that he’s writing letters and asks him to teach him to read and write. Initially reluctant, the boy agrees, and teaching sessions begin. Soon the boys bond over the alphabet and words.
Most kids don’t see that coming when they begin the book, but the characters are so edgy, the tension so tight that they’re distracted by the action, not paying too much attention to the two guys in the corner working on their letters.
Why would a young guy go through so much effort to read? Why desire it so badly that he risks punishment and ridicule? I get my students thinking about this and we land on the importance of reading. It’s not because I’m always going to advocate for reading, but because without the ability to read, Zero was at anyone’s mercy. He could not order from a menu, apply for a job or read simple signs. When you can’t read, you’re powerless. Kids don’t often think about that until it’s pointed out. We’re not missing out if we can’t read a billboard perhaps, but what about a job description? What about texts and emails? How lost would we be?
It’s been said that “the man who doesn’t read has no advantage over the one who can’t.” Today our phones are a mesmerizing distraction sometimes too magnetic to put down and we all know people who can read but don’t. I’m talking about reading books, magazines, anything on paper. Does it make a difference? Yes. Long-form reading has innumerable benefits for the mind as opposed to short bursts seen on our screens.
In English classes – whether at school or at home – kids are reading, grappling with ideas, noticing patterns, tracing arguments. They’re exposed to cultures and lands and peoples with whom they’d meet no other way. They’re learning history and current events, writing etiquette and proper grammar. It’s all important. It’s not always exciting, but it’s all essential.
If you have a reluctant reader or writer, get them a teacher who is enthusiastic about the subject. Many a student has discovered either a love for or a willing tolerance for a subject once they’re in front of a happy teacher – a teacher for whom English is a ‘get to’ not a ‘have to.’
For your part, do what you can to emulate reading to your kids and get them following your lead. After all, since we can read, why not take full advantage?
Submitted by: Mrs. Sue Likkel, ALC Administrator & English Teacher