Our Poor Reading Culture Essay

One of the cruel jokes that are often made at the expense of the black man is that, if you want to hide something from him, simply put it inside a book. The idea is that, he does not have the habit of reading for pleasure and knowledge and as such is not likely to go near any secret kept in a book. Another variant of this joke is that, if you want to hide something from a fool, simply hide it inside a book because a fool does not read. Whichever of the variants of these jokes, we are familiar with hardly matters. What is important is that, in Ghana today, particularly in our universities and other tertiary institutions, there is a low level of reading habits among students. Very few students read anything outside the prescribed texts for their studies. Many adults as such loathe reading just to broaden their horizon. Yet an informed citizenry with a broad outlook on life is necessary for good governance and for the successful practice of democracy. It is unfortunate that our race has been identified for the lack of wisdom in most of its people in not reading as much as we ought to. The joke at our particular expense should serve as a wakeup call on all students and blacks to embrace the culture of reading. We should begin to ask ourselves whether it is a mere coincidence that the black race is today the poorest, the least developed and the most backward technologically of all the races or there is somehow a connection between the poor reading culture among the blacks and their relative backwardness. People of all races particularly, we the blacks ought to read because; the wisdom of the ages is contained in books. Educators, psychologist neurologist have all confirmed that, reading is one of the most valuable tools for brain development. The decline in reading nowadays can be traced principally to some of the following causes: Harsh economic reality which affects the buying of books; Poor educational system; inadequate reading materials in the library; Laziness on part of students; Problem of awareness of the need to read lastly, the Poor method of teaching â€Å"reading’’. Since food for the body is more important, than the one specifically meant for the brain, many have chosen to sacrifice books in favour of other more urgent needs. The rise of the computer with all their addictive games, have also conspired against book reading. However, while TV and the computer are other tools of education and entertainment, they cannot completely replace books in equipping the citizenry in the task of personal and national development. Reading is a skill that should be acquired and not inculcated. Nature did not deem it fit to just bestow it on us, therefore, we students have a serious role in getting ourselves back to the book, parents, lecturers, the government and NGO’s alike also have a role to play in getting the society back to the book. The time has come for us to end that old- fashioned and cruel joke about us being fools, because we do not want to read.