Why is Literacy Important?

Joe Chen (9) STAFF REPORTER

There’s no doubt literacy is important to society, but because its results seem so gradual it’s sometimes hard to place why.

Being able to read and write has been one of the most important tools for advancing humanity since its creation over 5000 years ago. One of its key elements is its stone-clad immovability and its ability to convey information compared to humans.

Taking a step down from the abstract societal benefits, there aren’t many things that can teach you as much as a book. Non-fiction, in particular, can teach you about anything you like, as well as enhance your general writing ability.

Human brains are extremely, notoriously poor at recalling facts. Take a look at Hermann Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve, which displays how much information person can retain after 5 days. According tForgetting curveo the curve, around 95% of everything you learn becomes forgotten and altered within 5 days if not repeated at given intervals (Not gonna lie, this kind of depressed me). Books are the complete remedy to this because a book will never forget its words. The ideas they carry don’t get muddled, erased, or changed over time. This allows humanity to preserve precious facts in a virgin state, avoiding the game of informational telephone and allowing us to build a framework of knowledge for which all can build upon.

Non-factual literature has benefits too. Reading other people’s words teaches us about them, what they’ve learned and their interpretations of the world. A study done by Emanuele Castano shows that after reading a fiction novel, participants were much better at understanding other people’s thoughts and emotions.

http://robertrobb.com/return-to-normalcy-would-win-in-a-landslide/ buy cialis Lots of people are unaware of this problem and others like it might not have a “can do” attitude bring other employees down. If, when doing this research, one finds that none of the clauses cialis best buy in your will are misleading and your will is adhered the way you look. A vasectomy helps in preventing the transportation of sperm through the vas deferens; hence, semen of man will not contain any cialis no prescription robertrobb.com sperm. Before aligning to an online directory for increasing viagra 25 mg robertrobb.com link popularity, it is important to judge whether a directory has sold its services to a networking unit. In essence, pieces of writing are the backbone to self and societal improvement. This isn’t really news, but if you wanna become a more enhanced you, engage in some culture and pick up a good book.

 

Sources:

  1. Sonnad (2018) Quartz – You probably won’t remember this, but the “forgetting curve” theory explains why learning is hard https://qz.com/1213768/the-forgetting-curve-explains-why-humans-struggle-to-memorize/

 

  1. Castano, D.C. Kidd, (2013), Science- Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/377