Words Are Important

The art of the word is gradually falling victim to the modern worldwide phenomena of communication by text messaging. The next generation of world citizens, as already witnessed by our teens and youth, is making ready for their future in a dizzy acceleration, fueled by energy drinks, high-speed internet, and pared down communication. Language trimmed and whittled to a precise length and desired form.

A world where YOU is spelled U and LOL describes our amusement. A rapid, no delay world, where citizens can sit in close proximity and exchange ideas, thoughts, and observations of the world around them simply through the keypad of a cellular phone. This world attaches no stigma or regret at the lack of oral communication by its residents. It is a society where there simply is no time for such feelings of remorse.

Our earliest ancestors used the spoken word, and shortly after, the written word as a means of sharing thoughts, feelings, and ideas with one another, a communion of language celebrated by denizens of any locale.

The spoken or written word also serves an evolutionary benefit…words evoke images. When the brain changes a word into a visual representation…good, healthy, things happen. The electrical impulse that sparks from the transmutation of word to picture is equivalent to running several feet at full speed. This brain exercise is specific to the short-term memory centers in the brain. Short-term memory is the function affected by diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia.

Recent studies show that exercising our short-term memory centers with actions such as reading, working crossword puzzles, or performing other problem solving activities energizes our brain. In addition, as with any exercise, the muscle or organ exercised becomes larger and stronger. In the brain, the synaptic highway, the roadway for incoming and outgoing information, can change from a two-lane country road into a sixteen-lane freeway over time simply by transforming words into a pictures.

Sounds simple, but the nation's school systems have become the latest victims of government intervention. For unfathomable reasons, politicians historically believe that the welfare of its citizenry is too valuable to be left in the citizen's own hands, that only in the far-away centers of government can local decisions be made intelligently. As a result, the local community no longer controls its own schools and the manner of education in which its children will be taught.

In trying to find accountability, politicians have taken the local school and turned it into a whirlpool of stress and emotional strain. The students must "learn" what the state prescripts, to the point that the system even dictates what books children must read and to ensure the students read these books, only "those" books on "the" list can receive a grade points.

As a result, reading has become drudgery. What far-away government fails to understand is the basic concept of learning…children cannot be forced to learn.

Think about that statement.

Learning should be an adventure. Learning should be fun. Learning should never be about the regurgitating of a government-prescribed idea list.

I am sure Orwell and Bradbury have written books on this very subject, although I doubt they are on the "reading list".

Reading is and will always be – about fun. What "you" the reader likes to read, what makes "you" the reader think, what inspires "you" the reader to pursue more information, in short...reading should always be pleasantly entertaining. The end value of this reading for fun is the student naturally "learns" or "becomes smarter." Reading teaches a child how to write and a child, who can read and write…well, is more apt to enjoy success in subjects such as math and science.

Reading what the child prefers promotes a healthy brain and allows the child to associate reading as a fun activity and not as a task. And it matters not what the reader decides to read, whether it be a graphic novel or a celebrity expose. For the scientific community understands that all readers eventually move up the reading ladder. When a child lifts weights during a physical education class, if the muscle group being exercised finds the weight load too easy, it will tell the lifter to add more weight. The brain does very much the same thing when it finds the reading material too simple; telling the child it is time "add more reading weight," which results in incremental reading advancement.

One of the great accomplishments of reading for fun is the sense of fulfillment in "learning," gathering one's own information and the joy that goes along with finding that information. Our schools should always be places where students learn because they want to, not because they have too.

If we do this, our children will become lifelong "learners" and perhaps we will not see the written and spoken word become just a "tweet."