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Is Reading Still Important in the Video Age?

Reading is the heart of education. The knowledge of almost every subject in school flows from reading.

One must be able to read the word problem in math in order to understand it. If you cannot read the science or social studies chapter, you cannot answer the questions at the end of the chapter. The complicated computer manual is essential to its operations, but it must be read.

One can arguably state: reading is the single most important social factor in American life today. Here's a formula to support that. It sounds simplistic, but all its parts can be documented, and while not 100 percent universal, it holds true far more often than not.

• The more you read, the more you know.
• The more you know, the smarter you grow.
• The smarter you are, the longer you stay in school.
• The longer you stay in school, the more diplomas you earn and the longer you are employed – thus the more money you earn in a lifetime.
• The more diplomas you earn, the higher your children's grades will be in school.
• The more diplomas you earn, the longer you live.

The opposite would also be true:

• The less you read, the less you know.
• The less you know, the sooner you drop out of school.
• The sooner you drop out, the sooner and longer you are poor.
• The sooner you drop out, the greater your chances of going to jail.

The basis for that formula is firmly established: poverty and illiteracy are related – they are the parents of desperation and imprisonment.

• 82 percent of prison inmates are school dropouts.
• Inmates are twice as likely to be ranked in the bottom levels of literacy as is the general population.
• 60 percent of inmates are illiterate.
• 63 percent of inmates are repeat offenders.

Why are such students failing and dropping out of school? Because they cannot read – which affects the entire report card. Change the graduation rate and you change the prison population – which changes the entire climate of America. The higher a state's high school graduation rate, the smaller its prison population.

So common sense should tell us that reading is the ultimate weapon – destroying ignorance, poverty, and despair before they can destroy us. A nation that doesn't read much doesn't know much. And a nation that doesn't know much is more likely to make poor choices in the home, the marketplace, the jury box, and the voting booth. And those decisions ultimately affect an entire nation – the literate and the illiterate.

The challenge therefore is to convince future generations of children that carrying books is more rewarding than carrying guns.

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