In Defense of Reading and Writing - Ananya Bhardwaj (Week 11)
There truly is a power in reading, and it’s devastating to see that it often goes unnoticed, especially in our country. The truth is, humanities studies are present in every aspect of our lives, even if we’re not sitting in AP English class; and yet, there seems to be an ever-growing war against literature, history, and art.
Book Burnings in Germany (1933): Source: Holocaust Encyclopedia
Reading and interacting with art is shown to directly improve critical thinking skills, creativity, and emotional intelligence—all of which are necessary parts of life. Critical thinking is essential to making positive impacts on society, as well as recognizing the dangers of a failing society (ex. my previous blog post); creative thinking is needed for a multitude of situations and is the driving force behind innovation and proper self-expression. Emotional intelligence seems to be the most overlooked in my opinion—everyone wants to have a high IQ and brag about it, but being able to empathize with others and understand people on a deeper level is key for all forms of collaborative work.
Literacy rates are worse than ever, and I’m not being hyperbolic. In the US, around 21% of adults are classified to have low literacy—that’s around one out of every five adults. Additionally, 54% of American adults read below the 6th-grade level; to put that into perspective, around half of all adults in our country read at the elementary school level.
Even worse is the book banning. Banning literature that unveils the ugly truths of a government, country, or social system isn’t a new concept. In 1933, the burning of books, especially ones written by Jewish authors, by the Nazis were common all across Germany. Some of the books burned were even the works of Albert Einstein. Now, books are being banned left and right; notable examples include: 1984 by George Orwell, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Ironically, these books all challenge the very systems that ban these books and criticize censorship of the truth, so these bans prove the very points that these books try to make.
There’s also been a longtime belief that studying humanities subjects is an act that directly opposes strength and power. STEM subjects are seen as more desirable and, for some reason, more challenging—as if rhetorical analysis, critical thinking, and examining symbolism aren’t difficult and crucial to developing brains. Yes, it is true that those working in humanities don’t make the same amount of money as their STEM counterparts; however, this is more related to the relative values that society places on STEM versus humanities. If the arts were valued more, they would be paid more.
In a world where many adults read—and therefore think and act—like little children, it’s important to empower ourselves with the power that comes with reading literature and interacting with art.
As said in Dead Poets Society, “We don’t write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.”
Hi Ananya!
ReplyDeleteBanning literature reminds me of an Instagram reel that I saw only a few days ago. A children's book called "Freckleface Strawberry" was banned. Now, I sat down, and I just tried to guess what the book could be about that deserved it getting banned by the Department of Defense. It's an autobiographical book about a young redhead child learning to love herself. People keep thinking that because they are not a racial minority, or a religious minority, they are safe. But it's moments like this where we are so obviously faced with the fact that nobody is safe. I love how you emphasize that literature is power, because it is directly the most powerful way of protesting against issues in society. It is the best way to educate oneself and learn about what is going on. The lowering levels of literacy is scary, but I hope more people come to realize what is happening. The more educated the human race is, the more powerful and peaceful we may be.
Hello Ananya, well as you observed the world is quite anti-intellectual right now, even considering the STEM loving fanboys are losing their funding. I can't emphasize more how seemingly useless pieces of knowledge like how mice respond to being massaged can end up saving millions of lives. Yet not only has this led researchers losing their jobs, anti-vaxxing and pseudoscience are going up all because the lack of humanities knowledge in society eventually came back and affected it. To be honest, I have never really cared about the humanities but as I grow older and take more APeng I realise how reading comprehension history and other skills matter and without them we may perish as a society.
ReplyDeleteHi Ananya,
ReplyDeleteBanning literature is something that is becoming more of an issue especially now that we have people like Trump running who do not believe that education is important; and this is resulting in people not being able to go to school. I think all books should be available to the general people and in school curriculums because hiding the book will not hide the reality. If we hide a book about racist people that would not change the fact that people are racist. So I find it pointless to do so, instead I would even go as far to say that it is hurtful to the children because it doesn't educate them on very real world problems. And it is better to have some knowledge about prominent societal issues rather to walk into the real world blindly.