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Mangiaracina: Reading, writing are our last bonds

By Nick Mangiaracina

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Do you remember me?

“Yeah, I remember you. You’re the guy who was always reading those thick books in high school.”

Yeah, that was me. But it wasn’t until after high school that I conquered Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” a journey spanning seven months.

So here I am again. Still reading. Not as much as I should be, but reading nonetheless. Unfortunately I am in the minority.

According to a 2004 report by the National Endowment for the Arts, the percentage of people reading literature dropped 10 percentage points from 1982 to 2002. More significant was the 17 percentage point decline of reading literature of those between the ages of 18 and 24 during the same time period.

Standardized test scores support this trend. The Center for Pubic Education reported a 6 percentage point decline on National Assessment of Education Progress reading test scores among 12th graders between 1992 and 2005. As the name suggests, this test is used to measure progress in education, especially in math and reading.

However, test scores are often an abstract and impersonal way of measuring reading ability. When you get into the specifics, it’s difficult to measure how well someone can read by talking about what percentage of people scored at the proficient level or the exemplary level for instance. Because reading ability and writing ability are closely related, it’s fair to look at writing ability to gauge how literate Americans are.

Martin Rochester of the Education newspaper Education Week wrote in 1996, “As a college professor for over a quarter of a century, I have been struck by the steady, almost annual decline in the literacy of students. This observation has been confirmed by colleagues in various disciplines at virtually all universities with which I have had contact. By literacy, I mean (1) the capacity to read a sophisticated written work and to understand the major ideas expressed by the author and (2) the capacity to write polished prose consisting of complete words, sentences, and paragraphs using standard English conventions.” I have seen both of Rochester’s critiques in action and notably the second.

Amidst a short story editing session my senior year of high school, I was shocked at the horridness of the pieces I read. It was not the subject matter or style that tripped me up but the inability of the author to string coherent thoughts together. I remember at least three times not knowing where to start the editing process. These were pieces riddled with sentence fragments, misspellings and usage problems. Sure, these were rough drafts, but it’s impossible to give feedback when you have no idea what the person is even trying to say.

The importance of being able to read and write well can’t be overstated. Of late the problem with not being able to read and write well has focused on not being able to compete with workers in China and India, which is important, but there are really more important reasons why the decline in literacy is such a problem.

Effective writing and reading not only allow us to effectively communicate, but in an increasingly fragmented world, it is one of the few universals left. It brings everyone together. Religion does not unite us. Sports do not unite us. Storytelling does. Everyone is a storyteller and everyone appreciates a good story. Stories transcend time and culture and age and gender.

Stories have the power to change the world — like the kickoff chant. However, while wasting time bickering over the political correctness of the football kickoff chant, we should be discussing why a quote from “The Waterboy” is so popular.

That’s another story though.

— — Mangiaracina is a Lenexa senior in journalism.

Comments

Beech27 (anonymous) says...

CSommerville, the condescending tone adopted in your comment makes you seem hypocritical when calling someone else self-glorifying. That said, I do remember the book-it program. It was great.

November 6, 2008 at 10:02 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

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