Cathy Luy

Oliver St. John

FIQWS 10103

25 September 2019

It is evident that the literacy skills of the younger generation have declined. Not only is the educational system to blame but also the students who are not doing anything to better their skills. 

At the beginning of Carillo’s piece, she starts off by blaming technology for the lack of literacy skills in the younger generation. She says that people spend “too much time on the computer and not enough time reading books” and that they forget “how to spell” and “how to develop ideas in more than 140 characters”, referring to the Twitter tweet character count (Carillo 38). Although the use of technology for entertainment and socializing has drastically increased, technology shouldn’t be blamed for the lack of literacy skills. I do find myself occasionally struggling to write in a formal language instead of teenage slang, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t form well thought out ideas. With the advancements of technology, people have access to many different pieces of literary texts that wouldn’t have been available prior to the internet. I find myself reading various types of texts online, such as news articles or ebooks, more often than physical copies of texts- even though I prefer physical copies. I wouldn’t blame technology for the lack of literacy skills, instead, I would blame the users of technology; it’s up to them to use the internet in a beneficial way. Through technology, they have the ability to seek new reading materials that challenge their skills.

Reading and writing are unique skills to have that can not be taught within the same class. Prior to high school, I’ve only had one English class that reading comprehension and analytical writing: reading a text, analyzing it, and then writing about it. During my freshman year of high school, I was put into a creative writing class, along with the basic English class. I figured that this class would have been easy since I’ve basically grown up reading creative writing pieces and that it wouldn’t be hard to replicate a similar style of writing- I was wrong. Creative writing was one of the most challenging English classes I’ve taken. I did not realize how difficult it was to write a story at a high school writing level; it was challenging to put my ideas into a well-written piece. One thing the class focused on was the language we used while writing. I was taught to not directly say what it was I wanted my readers to get from my writing, but instead to use words to convey a feeling, setting, and idea; this was the most challenging part. I was used to just analyzing other writers’ pieces of text that I never thought of what it’s like to actually write it. It’s one thing to be able to analyze an author’s writing but it’s totally different to actually write using the skills authors have; we are only taught that these skills exist because we are taught how to identify them but we aren’t taught how to use them. We most likely won’t be writing analytically after school, but having the skills to write well is always needed. Public schooling only gives one class per day for English, teaching both reading and writing in a span of roughly an hour. It’s not enough time for a student to develop skills in both sections. Teachers tend to focus mainly on one aspect: reading comprehension while skimming over writing mainly only when it’s necessary for an assignment. To have a class that mainly focuses on students writing skills allows them to grow in that aspect. I now have a better understanding of what it means to write in a non-academic essay writing style; I found my writing style through the singled out writing class.

Reading and writing is a form of creative freedom. Writing allows people to put their ideas and creativity on paper and reading allows people to connect with the author’s words. To be able to read and understand the author’s words is just as important as being able to write.  Even at a young age, children “[learn] to interpret the world in paper and paint around the same time that [they] read” (Biswas 1). No matter the age, people use reading as a way to learn and connect with others; this is why people might re-read novels, including me (Carillo 40). After I finish reading a book, I write down notes or takeaways from it and I’ll reread the book a few months later and do the same thing. Every time I read something, I find that I connect it with what I am currently experiencing; I make text to self or text to world connections. Reading teaches people to “[analyze], [interpret], and [evaluate] all that surrounds them” through comprehension (Carillo 39). Reading also emphasizes the importance of “actively engaging ideas, asking questions, and seeking perspectives” (Carillo 39). Comparing the notes I’ve written for a book, I find it interesting to see how my mindset in regards to certain topics alter as I get older and experience more. 

There’s an importance in reading and writing that is not emphasized enough in a classroom setting. The education system only focuses on the literal aspect of reading: what is the author trying to convey in a certain text. It never teaches students to actively think about it. Education is only based on test-taking, memory, and the global ranking of a country; it’s not about the students and what can they actually learn to apply in a real-world setting with what is being taught. There needs to be an improvement of not only teaching reading and writing simultaneously, not within the same hour,  but there is also a need to enhance the relevance of the material being taught.