Southeast Area Elementary Readers’ Fest 2015
December 2, 2015
“Be a Responsible Netizen with English.”
Ladies and gentlemen, if I will write this message and
just ask you to read it, many of you will remark, “Ok unta imong message sir,
taas lang kayo.”
My dear friends, we all have experienced seeing posts on
facebook about an announcement of an event or activity where all details—date,
venue, and time, have been provided. But still, there’s always someone who
would comment: “Kanus a ni?” (Lourd de Veyra, The Word of the Lourd)
What is the problem with this people?
a. Were
they just excited?
b. The
font size was just too small?
c. Nagpapansin
lang?
d. They
cannot read?
e. But
how could they be on Facebook if they do not know how to read? Also, their
profiles reveal that they are students.
f. Is
it because we can’t control the urge to react without understanding the
message?
Do Filipinos really hate reading?
I’ve read an article before by Arlene Babst-Vokey, the
title was “Filipinos are not book lovers.”
She said that in Japan, the bookstore was the most popular
feature in every street block, while in the Philippines, instead of bookshop,
it was the beauty parlor competing with the sari-sari store.
What could be the reasons for this? Poverty is not the
only reason, for even some of the richest Filipinos do not read.
Some other reasons include:
1. Reading requires solitude. We hate solitude. (alone
with a book)
2. Reading requires time and patience. We want our
entertainment fast and light.
3. Reading involves ideas. We find ideas boring.
(personalities not ideas)
4. Reading requires silence. We want to move in herds; we
want love songs and dances.
Solitude, time, plus ideas, and then silence? It’s too
much.
But you and I need not despair. The National Book
Development Board conducted a readership survey in 2012 and the statistics
reveal that 88% of Adult Filipinos read. 12% of Adult Filipinos read everyday.
32% read at least once every week. 67% of non-schoolbook readers read Tagalog
non-schoolbooks, 50% read non-schoolbooks in English, and 12 % in Cebuano.
The survey also revealed that those who watch TV and
internet read more than those who do not watch TV and internet.
91% of non-schoolbook readers say that reading is a great
leisure activity.
88% of non-schoolbook readers say that books make excellent
gifts.
These figures tell us that we are now becoming a nation of
readers.
This event today is one of the ways to promote reading
among our students. The task of ensuring that the love of reading is developed
in our young is in our hands.
Why should we read?
1. Reading is a way of downloading new software and
applications if we were an iphone
2. Reading will enable us to communicate to present and past
great thinkers, and learn from them.
3. Reading is life in itself. A person who does not read
has no advantage over a person who cannot read. (Mark Twain)
In the movie the Dead Poet’s Society, John Keating said,
“We do not read and write poetry because it’s cute. We
read because we are members of the human race, and the human race is filled
with passion. This is what we stay alive for.”
My dear children, keep on reading and become great.
Thank you and good morning.
