Reading books (Advices to Parents)

Today students do not read books but read Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and Text messages. If you pay attention, you can see that students always look at their Smartphone. Every few minutes, they look for text messages or tweet; every hour, they check their Facebook account. They read all the time but only on something short and entertainment. They can talk about many things, from daily events to lives of movies stars, but few would read something meaningful for their career or develop deeper knowledge on certain subjects.

A few years ago when teaching in Asia, I did a simple exercise in my software engineering class. I asked students to list five key events that “flatten” the world, and five people that they admire, but not government leaders and political people (i.e., my class is a technology and engineering, not history or politics). To my surprise, most students had no idea what I meant by the “Flat world,” although one of the required reading assignments was three chapters in the book “The World is Flat.” by Thomas Friedman. It was an indication that many students did not read the book. Another surprise was among the people that they admire, a few students chose Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, but most were names that I did not know who they were. After asking, I learned that they were Korean movie and music stars. When I told students about my disappointment that they did not read the assignment, a student explained: “But you asked us to read over 40 pages. That is too much.”

University research has found that college students who did not have good reading skills often have problems in their first year. If they took a remedial reading course to improve reading skills, they could increase their chance of success compared to students who do not take such a course. The research concluded that reading is essential parts of college studying and a foundation for future success. In most of my courses, besides the textbooks, students must read at least three technical articles and one technical news per week, to prepare for class discussions, and they have to write a technical paper, about 5 to 15 pages every month about a certain subject to broaden their learning. I often advise them: “Besides technical skills, you must be good at reading, writing because regardless what types of job, you do you need good communication skills when working with others. If you are good at reading, you will be good at writing, and by having a rich vocabulary, your communication skills can be improved.”

Reading is a habit that develops at a very young age. According to several studies, young children begin to develop their reading skills when they are 2 or 3 years old, and there is a strong correlation between good reading habit and academic achievement in later years. I love to read since I was very young, and I read everything that I can find. My children also read a lot because their dad and mom read a lot. We have a lot of books in our house, so my children pick up that reading habit. When they were young, I read with my children before they went to bed every night. I did it because I knew it was an important part of their education. I could not “outsource” the raising of my children to somebody. Today they are adults but still read a lot, and I am glad because we can talk about books, articles, news when they come to visit us. I believe that parents must be involved in the education of their children and they need to make sure their children do read books. Parents are responsible for children’s reading habit, and by having a lot of good books at home, children will read more.

Of course, if parents spend more time watching TV then children will do the same. But doing that, they do not engage much with their children. It is easier to blame the TV, the video games, and mobile apps rather than blaming themselves. But if parents do not take responsibility for raising thoughtful, empathic children, they may not develop open-minded and responsible adults. I believe books are a crucial part of children’s education and they will not read unless we tell them that books are an important part of being an adult. Parents must teach children to read by “reading to them” when they were very young, and “reading with them” when they begin learning how to read. And teach them that it matters what they read when they grow up to young adult.

How children read and what they read will determine a lot about their attitudes about reading when they grow up. Parents have a lot of influence on their children’s behavior and attitudes by helping them to develop a good reading habit and the types of book that you gave to them to read. Good reading habit should be nurtured when children are young, by having a “small library” at home with a lot of good books, parents can set a foundation for the future of your children and to our society.

Sources

  • Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University

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