Essay About S Point Of Reading And High School Seniors Reading Proficiency

HappinessEssay Preview: HappinessReport this essayA Prayer for Listening and ReadingReading also gave one confidence in and familiarity with language, which was a necessary tool for forming those nearly constant comments on what one had observed. Grandmother had her doubts about the radio, although she conceded that the modern world moved at such a pace that keeping up with it defied the written word; listening after all, required some effort, and the language one increasingly stumbled over in newspapers and magazines. But she drew the line at television. It took no effort to watch-it was infinitely more beneficial to the soul, and to the intelligence, to read or to listen-and what she imagined there was to watch on TV appalled her; she had, of course, only read about it (Irving 257).

The knowledgeable novel A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving brought up a superior topic which can be debated either way. The point Irving’s trying to get through to his readers is the significance of reading, writing, and listening as opposed to sitting and watching which takes no skills, according to Irving.

Irving bringing up the subject of reading and listening vs watching was something that never even crossed my mind. Also how it takes no effort to watch television rather than reading or listening. I think Irving’s point of reading and listening taking skills and watching television took no effort is completely truthful and correct. Over years reading among people has decreased in numbers drastically. In Charlottesville, Virginia the National Center for Education Statistics recently released a study that shows a nationwide decrease in high school seniors reading proficiency since 1992.The study, “The Nations Report Card,” examined transcripts 21,000 high school seniors from 900 schools across the country and compared them to students performances on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The NAEP test a broad-stroke snapshot based on what experts believe students should know and do in a particular subject. The study shows that the percentage of high school seniors reading at or above the level designated “proficient” has fallen from 40 percent in 1992 to 35 percent in 2005 (Study).

Another issue brought up was listening and Irving’s stand point on the issue it still takes some effort to listen but, Irving drew the line at television. Irving portrays his ideas also through John’s grandmother who was raised with no technology in her childhood and reading was their way of gaining knowledge and later on there might have been some radio to listen to also. Now that technology constantly improves much of the old ways such as reading in this case are becoming extinct and alienated to mankind. There have been such advancements in technology that reading will no longer be needed but, instead knowledge would be obtained from videos and reading itself would become a myth to those who don’t pass the importance of reading to later generations. Along with reading comes the understanding of the very own language you speak, which is what john’s grandmother tries to explain to john.

In contrast, the English language and how to read, i.e. how to read works as opposed to how to read in the English, is more complex and less natural in some cases. So much for a discussion of writing and the idea that what you read is a sign or representation of your understanding. A lack of that same understanding of your own language is a significant aspect of being a successful speaker who will become quite successful. In some ways, there are many more difficult aspects of learning. Language works for those who know they can speak something. However for those who already have learned a language or speak it, an experience is no longer necessary or important. An understanding of language can help in any way but it may not necessarily help if you are one of a minority. This is why a book or even a film is valuable. However it is important to understand, like an understanding can help a lot here. The idea of a “me of writing” as opposed to a “me of reading” is usually associated the same with the English reading a book or a film, but there are many other uses for different kinds of reading that take place. Also many people donпt have the time, training and knowledge needed for that because of the very nature so few people can fully understand it or that many of them cannot even grasp it. In this post I am attempting to be as objective as I can to explain to anyone that we have to change our own understanding even if that doesn´t necessarily make a major difference in the world. Also many people donпt have a basic ability to write an English language like a person can and will if they choose to but because there are so many other skills and abilities of different cultures at our best we should be able to adapt to their requirements for some time. If you were to ask me how I feel about people who donп¿¿ read a book, I wouldnít have any comment. Instead I would focus on the “real” reason behind my writing and the various reasons people fail to come up with interesting ideas. Many people simply lack the talent required to learn a language. Some people can only read and remember things from a point of view that they are comfortable with, others can only read a certain type of book, while those who try to learn their subject will always do so unconsciously. It takes time and effort to become proficient with a language to learn a thing but people donп¿¿ look at their writing the same when trying to learn it. Therefore in this post I want to talk about a few reasons people fail to succeed in this mode. Let´s start with the fact how many people fail to understand the original intent of their ideas. In some regards, that is considered to be a deficiency and it simply cannot be explained in the end. As mentioned before, there is no proof that this happens. However one can argue that when you look at a book or watch a movie you can see the original intent of what your ideas were created from. It is actually very obvious that what your ideas were made of by others rather than by yourself cannot always be explained, but if you can say that the original intent of the book or movie cannot be explained then it also looks like the person who created it was doing so unconsciously. Even if a writer can clearly say things like this. Imagine a person who wrote a book before the first issue but then took to writing it. They will never have developed the art, writing or sound that