Why book reading is vital for students (Part-1 of 3)
Ever since words could be written in human history – those who sought knowledge and wanted to preserve it in written form, took to writing, developed scholarship skills, gathered with like-minded groups of people, and devoted lives to writing, thinking, learning, and teaching.
From history books to books on philosophy, literature, poetry, novels, short stories to children’s books, students with interest in varied books genres can learn and gain knowledge about different disciplines as they frequently read books.
Regularly reading books develops higher thinking and reasoning skills
Readers gain in depth awareness through getting inspired by the lessons in the books and by appreciating the illuminating power of good writings.
For students to be successful in their studies and in life, they must have an inner motivation to continue to learn by developing the art of reading. This is possible if they believe in making book-reading as a preferred activity choice for the time they have outside of school studies.
Whether its textbooks or other good books, developing the necessary positive attitude for reading as a beneficial activity brings inclined students to making it a priority activity for themselves.
By staying engaged in reading – both inside and outside of academic environments, students will be able to:
a) gain academic excellence through reading textbook chapters with interest, developing self-discipline as an advanced preparation strategy for upcoming lectures in classes
b) strengthen their reading schedule commitment while developing a positive relationship with good books, metaphorically, as healthy companionship. In this regard, the most effective way to learn is by reading selected books on a topic and/or the knowledge discipline one has aptitude for. They will make time to sit and concentrate on reading and take some more time to understand what the authors may have intended to communicate through their authored written works.
The dedication and commitment which make a good student excellent lies in their focused and enthusiastic pursuit of learning, continually.
Why reading books is essential
Books serve as cognitive organizers for understanding the concepts related to one’s field of study. For baccalaureate level education, it is imperative that students learn to develop speed reading and read books on a regular basis. This is to aid the students in comprehending the vast array of knowledgebase available to them which has been graciously collected and written to date. The purpose is to help students become educated in knowing the historical evolution of their respective disciplines; arts, sciences, technology, law, ethics, medicine, language, and literature, and so forth.
In liberal arts-based education systems as are in the western countries, an interdisciplinary approach is used to author textbooks so that students can appreciate the interdisciplinary applications of their main subject or major as is referred to in the US higher academic system.
Reading books improve one’s awareness about abstract concepts and factual knowledge. Thus enabling the reader to use it for doing well in one’s education, career and also to develop a life-long interest in book reading. Such individuals do well as mentors at work during professional career years and form long-term good friendships with like-minded individuals who also value reading books.
Books open up the doors to structured sense of inquiry and help keen students in developing their critical thinking skills and further refine their questions related to the discipline. A good grasp of well-researched textbooks can help students in formulating their own research questions and be able to describe their position papers and thesis proposals in a thoroughly informed manner. For meeting the intellectual rigor of higher educational scholarship, keeping up with readings especially at master’s level degree programs, is a crucial step to doing well in writing one’s thesis and doctoral dissertation. How well one knows the current state of the literature in one’s discipline, the easier it will be to design own original postgraduate level study and write publishable research papers.
Sounds good? lets move on to our 2nd part of the series.
