On reading habits of M'sian students
Published on: Sunday, May 23, 2010
By: Azilleo Kristo Mozihim
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Based on the statistics issued by the National Statistics Department during the year 2002, Malaysian students only read two books a year.
Many students perceived that reading is a waste of time and they only read for purpose of passing examinations. We are quite aware the myriad of benefits that can be acquired by reading books and the positive progressive result that it can induce for the country.
By consistently devouring high-quality reading materials, we gain benefits in terms of intellectual, social, spiritual and personal development.
With that in mind, why do students still feel that reading is purely for the purpose of passing examinations? Within this article several factors for the existences of such negative mentality will be discussed and also several ways to improve the students reading habit will be presented.
Parents are the most influential people in the life of a child, students normally model the behaviours and attitudes of their parents after constantly observing them since they were in diapers.
Logically, if the parents have positive attitudes the child will mimic and model after them.
It goes the same if the parents have negative attitudes and behaviours. If the parents themselves do not make reading as a daily activity, they should not expect their child to cultivate reading as a daily activity.
In this context, parents should be good role models to the students by including reading as one of their daily activities.
Other than that, parents should allocate a small percentage of their monthly earnings to purchase books and suitable reading materials for their children. They should also designate a small section in the house specifically for reading. This allows their children to always have a place to read. If the child is still an infant or a toddler, allocate some personal time with and read a story book together.
By the time child is starting his or her formal education, he or she will associate reading with not only for exams but also for pleasure.
Parents also can bring their child to the local library and allow them to read books which discuss the topics of their interest. If the child is fond of cars then allow him to read a book regarding the anatomy of a car.
By doing so, the child is reading for pleasure and personal interest.
This can translate into good academic performance and personal development in the future.
Other than parents, the school which is the primary educational institution of the society also has a crucial role to play in improving students' reading habits. The school library is one of the usual facilities found in a public school.
However, it is not fully utilised by the students. Students will seldom go and read at the school library unless it is for some special reading programme which is conducted once or twice a week by the school.
This may be due to the school's library lacking certain attractive factors.
The school should allocate some money to ameliorate the facilities of the school's library.
Computers should be provided to enable the students to utilise the internet for research and also to locate online reading materials.
Air-conditioners should be installed and quality chairs as well as tables should be provided in order to create a conducive reading ambience.
The books available should be of variety of genre and topics to capture the many interests of the students.
The school engender book publishing companies such as McGraw-Hill and Dawama in order to purchase suitable reading materials for the library.
The elected student librarians and the teacher-in-charge should make an effort to promote the books available in the library to the student body.
Most of the time students have no interest to go to the school library due to the absence of awareness regarding the books available there which may attract their interest.
Lastly, the only person that can improve the students' reading habit are the students themselves.
It is futile to assist the students in improving their reading habits if they themselves have no intention of doing so.
The student should be aware that reading is one of the primary key to success in the modern world.
In our information-saturated globe, knowledge is constantly being updated and upgraded wherein previous information would deem obsolete or impractical.
Moreover, with the advent and evolution of the internet, information can be transmitted throughout the whole world in the blink of an eye.
Ergo, it is imperative for students to make reading as a pleasurable and continuing habit if he or she wants to stay abreast with the world and have the competitive edge. Students should realise that they will have to read continuously even after finishing their formal education.
The knowledge that the students studied when they were sitting for their exams may have undergone significant changes in the next five or ten years.
In order to keep abreast with current development, students must read relevant publications.
If the students do not hone this habit, they will not have the initiative to constantly read not only to improve their career standing but also for personal development in order to become a better and useful citizen.
In conclusion, there are many reasons for the deplorable reading habits of Malaysian students either due to parental, school-related or personal habits.
Even so, they are innumerable numbers of ways to improve the current reading habits of students.
This requires the amalgamation of the efforts of many authoritative bodies such as the school and the government.
Readings is one of the most essential language abilities. I am not implying that the other language skills are of lower standard but much of the knowledge within the society is disseminated through writing.
For me, personally, even after just finishing my SPM last year I still allocate some time to read books concerning my area of interest such as linguistics and sociology. I read such books not for passing an exam later on but for reading itself.
In my opinion, based on the current reading habit of the Malaysian students, Malaysia has a long way to go before it can compete with a reading and successful society such as Japan.
In the spirit of 1 Malaysia, let us together regardless of our race religion come together and strive to achieve excellence not only in education but also in other fields of endeavour such as economy and sports.
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