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I was watching the news earlier, and they had a report on how British students compared to other countries’ students. 15-year-olds took some sort of tests, and they found out that Japan and Finland are top in literacy, science, and maths. Great Britain did quite well, notably beating France and Germany (yes! {:)) in all 3 subjects.
Something a little more depressing however, was when they talked about how we could improve. They talked mostly about Literacy, and said that a THIRD of boys have never read for enjoyment. This also came to my attention a couple of weeks ago, when my German teacher asked how many of us read books (not sure why.) Myself, quite a few girls and about two other boys put their hands up, leaving around half of the class without their hands up. Now I admit, my German class is full of trouble makers, but I still couldn’t believe it.
Never?? A third of boys have NEVER read for enjoyment? No wonder Japan are so much better than us in Literacy in English skills. So these boys (and some girls I’m reckoning,) have never read a book, unless they were made to. I find that very sad. Although I watch a lot of TV, and it does provide great entertainment (sometimes,) books are more special to me. I’ve loved reading my whole life, and I want to be an author when I’m older. This worries me; as technology grows, are books going to go more and more out of fashion?
Books have many advantages over TV. You can use your imagination, and most of the time you can visualise what’s going on in your mind, rather than just looking at it on a screen. Many books are capable of doing what TV and movies are not-describing someone’s feelings. Most movies and most TV programmes have to be full of conversation, where as a book can be mostly descriptions of fellings, places etc. A prime example of this is James Herbert’s The Others, which I have just finished reading. It’s in 1st person, and so much detail is put into the book. There is conversation, but not all that much of it, but he does tell us a lot about his feelings, and what he is seeing and doing.
But this is not an argument against TV, or against movies. I’m just a little worried that books are being pushed out of soceity, in favour of TV, movies or even just going out all the time. It saddens me to think that a third of boys have never experienced the joy of reading a good book. There are so many of them out there! Classics such as The Lord Of The Rings, series’ like the Phillip Pullman trilogy, any book written by Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Steven King (is it Steven or Stephen?) and they have not even been interested in ever reading one of them. When I was 11 I started to collect a series of books called Animorphs. Although I haven’t bought one in a while, I will finish my collection, especially since I’ve got 42 of the 55 or so available. They were absolute brilliance, exactly the sort of thing I liked. I looked forward to the next one coming out, I had a favourite character who I always wanted to do ‘well’ if you know what I mean, and hell, I even wrote my own version!
Books can provide high entertainment and enjoyment, and at a cheap cost. I cannot believe that people are so ignorant (or just plan stupid,) as to not even try reading a book! It makes me sick to my stomach when people say, “Oh no, I only read magazines,” or even just, “No way, reading’s boring.” Perhaps it’s the way they’re brought up, although I know many people who have been brought up just fine, who seemingly can’t be bothered to read. As thought it’s some sort of chore.
So is reading going out of fashion? Are books becoming ‘un-cool’? Well, I certainly hope not, and I would like to think that most people will continue to read, and hopefully bring their children up to read. But at the moment, I don’t think it’s looking too good.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
Something a little more depressing however, was when they talked about how we could improve. They talked mostly about Literacy, and said that a THIRD of boys have never read for enjoyment. This also came to my attention a couple of weeks ago, when my German teacher asked how many of us read books (not sure why.) Myself, quite a few girls and about two other boys put their hands up, leaving around half of the class without their hands up. Now I admit, my German class is full of trouble makers, but I still couldn’t believe it.
Never?? A third of boys have NEVER read for enjoyment? No wonder Japan are so much better than us in Literacy in English skills. So these boys (and some girls I’m reckoning,) have never read a book, unless they were made to. I find that very sad. Although I watch a lot of TV, and it does provide great entertainment (sometimes,) books are more special to me. I’ve loved reading my whole life, and I want to be an author when I’m older. This worries me; as technology grows, are books going to go more and more out of fashion?
Books have many advantages over TV. You can use your imagination, and most of the time you can visualise what’s going on in your mind, rather than just looking at it on a screen. Many books are capable of doing what TV and movies are not-describing someone’s feelings. Most movies and most TV programmes have to be full of conversation, where as a book can be mostly descriptions of fellings, places etc. A prime example of this is James Herbert’s The Others, which I have just finished reading. It’s in 1st person, and so much detail is put into the book. There is conversation, but not all that much of it, but he does tell us a lot about his feelings, and what he is seeing and doing.
But this is not an argument against TV, or against movies. I’m just a little worried that books are being pushed out of soceity, in favour of TV, movies or even just going out all the time. It saddens me to think that a third of boys have never experienced the joy of reading a good book. There are so many of them out there! Classics such as The Lord Of The Rings, series’ like the Phillip Pullman trilogy, any book written by Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Steven King (is it Steven or Stephen?) and they have not even been interested in ever reading one of them. When I was 11 I started to collect a series of books called Animorphs. Although I haven’t bought one in a while, I will finish my collection, especially since I’ve got 42 of the 55 or so available. They were absolute brilliance, exactly the sort of thing I liked. I looked forward to the next one coming out, I had a favourite character who I always wanted to do ‘well’ if you know what I mean, and hell, I even wrote my own version!
Books can provide high entertainment and enjoyment, and at a cheap cost. I cannot believe that people are so ignorant (or just plan stupid,) as to not even try reading a book! It makes me sick to my stomach when people say, “Oh no, I only read magazines,” or even just, “No way, reading’s boring.” Perhaps it’s the way they’re brought up, although I know many people who have been brought up just fine, who seemingly can’t be bothered to read. As thought it’s some sort of chore.
So is reading going out of fashion? Are books becoming ‘un-cool’? Well, I certainly hope not, and I would like to think that most people will continue to read, and hopefully bring their children up to read. But at the moment, I don’t think it’s looking too good.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
Page:
Stephen King.
I started Lord of the Rings today. It's... wonderful. Only got through a few pages, because of the large introduction, but I'm enjoying it throughly so far.
I started Lord of the Rings today. It's... wonderful. Only got through a few pages, because of the large introduction, but I'm enjoying it throughly so far.
I was watching the news earlier, and they had a report on how British students compared to other countries’ students. 15-year-olds took some sort of tests, and they found out that Japan and Finland are top in literacy, science, and maths. Great Britain did quite well, notably beating France and Germany (yes! {:)) in all 3 subjects.
Something a little more depressing however, was when they talked about how we could improve. They talked mostly about Literacy, and said that a THIRD of boys have never read for enjoyment. This also came to my attention a couple of weeks ago, when my German teacher asked how many of us read books (not sure why.) Myself, quite a few girls and about two other boys put their hands up, leaving around half of the class without their hands up. Now I admit, my German class is full of trouble makers, but I still couldn’t believe it.
Never?? A third of boys have NEVER read for enjoyment? No wonder Japan are so much better than us in Literacy in English skills. So these boys (and some girls I’m reckoning,) have never read a book, unless they were made to. I find that very sad. Although I watch a lot of TV, and it does provide great entertainment (sometimes,) books are more special to me. I’ve loved reading my whole life, and I want to be an author when I’m older. This worries me; as technology grows, are books going to go more and more out of fashion?
Books have many advantages over TV. You can use your imagination, and most of the time you can visualise what’s going on in your mind, rather than just looking at it on a screen. Many books are capable of doing what TV and movies are not-describing someone’s feelings. Most movies and most TV programmes have to be full of conversation, where as a book can be mostly descriptions of fellings, places etc. A prime example of this is James Herbert’s The Others, which I have just finished reading. It’s in 1st person, and so much detail is put into the book. There is conversation, but not all that much of it, but he does tell us a lot about his feelings, and what he is seeing and doing.
But this is not an argument against TV, or against movies. I’m just a little worried that books are being pushed out of soceity, in favour of TV, movies or even just going out all the time. It saddens me to think that a third of boys have never experienced the joy of reading a good book. There are so many of them out there! Classics such as The Lord Of The Rings, series’ like the Phillip Pullman trilogy, any book written by Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Steven King (is it Steven or Stephen?) and they have not even been interested in ever reading one of them. When I was 11 I started to collect a series of books called Animorphs. Although I haven’t bought one in a while, I will finish my collection, especially since I’ve got 42 of the 55 or so available. They were absolute brilliance, exactly the sort of thing I liked. I looked forward to the next one coming out, I had a favourite character who I always wanted to do ‘well’ if you know what I mean, and hell, I even wrote my own version!
Books can provide high entertainment and enjoyment, and at a cheap cost. I cannot believe that people are so ignorant (or just plan stupid,) as to not even try reading a book! It makes me sick to my stomach when people say, “Oh no, I only read magazines,” or even just, “No way, reading’s boring.” Perhaps it’s the way they’re brought up, although I know many people who have been brought up just fine, who seemingly can’t be bothered to read. As thought it’s some sort of chore.
So is reading going out of fashion? Are books becoming ‘un-cool’? Well, I certainly hope not, and I would like to think that most people will continue to read, and hopefully bring their children up to read. But at the moment, I don’t think it’s looking too good.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
Something a little more depressing however, was when they talked about how we could improve. They talked mostly about Literacy, and said that a THIRD of boys have never read for enjoyment. This also came to my attention a couple of weeks ago, when my German teacher asked how many of us read books (not sure why.) Myself, quite a few girls and about two other boys put their hands up, leaving around half of the class without their hands up. Now I admit, my German class is full of trouble makers, but I still couldn’t believe it.
Never?? A third of boys have NEVER read for enjoyment? No wonder Japan are so much better than us in Literacy in English skills. So these boys (and some girls I’m reckoning,) have never read a book, unless they were made to. I find that very sad. Although I watch a lot of TV, and it does provide great entertainment (sometimes,) books are more special to me. I’ve loved reading my whole life, and I want to be an author when I’m older. This worries me; as technology grows, are books going to go more and more out of fashion?
Books have many advantages over TV. You can use your imagination, and most of the time you can visualise what’s going on in your mind, rather than just looking at it on a screen. Many books are capable of doing what TV and movies are not-describing someone’s feelings. Most movies and most TV programmes have to be full of conversation, where as a book can be mostly descriptions of fellings, places etc. A prime example of this is James Herbert’s The Others, which I have just finished reading. It’s in 1st person, and so much detail is put into the book. There is conversation, but not all that much of it, but he does tell us a lot about his feelings, and what he is seeing and doing.
But this is not an argument against TV, or against movies. I’m just a little worried that books are being pushed out of soceity, in favour of TV, movies or even just going out all the time. It saddens me to think that a third of boys have never experienced the joy of reading a good book. There are so many of them out there! Classics such as The Lord Of The Rings, series’ like the Phillip Pullman trilogy, any book written by Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Steven King (is it Steven or Stephen?) and they have not even been interested in ever reading one of them. When I was 11 I started to collect a series of books called Animorphs. Although I haven’t bought one in a while, I will finish my collection, especially since I’ve got 42 of the 55 or so available. They were absolute brilliance, exactly the sort of thing I liked. I looked forward to the next one coming out, I had a favourite character who I always wanted to do ‘well’ if you know what I mean, and hell, I even wrote my own version!
Books can provide high entertainment and enjoyment, and at a cheap cost. I cannot believe that people are so ignorant (or just plan stupid,) as to not even try reading a book! It makes me sick to my stomach when people say, “Oh no, I only read magazines,” or even just, “No way, reading’s boring.” Perhaps it’s the way they’re brought up, although I know many people who have been brought up just fine, who seemingly can’t be bothered to read. As thought it’s some sort of chore.
So is reading going out of fashion? Are books becoming ‘un-cool’? Well, I certainly hope not, and I would like to think that most people will continue to read, and hopefully bring their children up to read. But at the moment, I don’t think it’s looking too good.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
Page: