Despite the widespread belief that human beings are becoming more advanced with each decade, there is a growing apathy toward one of the most meaningful facets of true human civilization: language. While listening to George Steiner speak on matters of literacy during composition class, I found it difficult not to associate his comments to my own observations of society’s attitudes toward literacy. In the United States, the importance of reading and writing is greatly overshadowed by our obsession with empty pursuits and entertainment, and our common belief that literacy is no longer of any use to our modern way of life is turning away future scholars.
In his interview, George Steiner spoke of the concept that once a person reads something and learns from it, no one can take that knowledge away. “No one can make a zombie out of you,” he said. “No one can pour the detergent of forgetting over you.” Ideally, this would be true. The problem lies with the disconcerting notion that, collectively, we are allowing ourselves to become zombies, and the very desire to learn is quickly waning because of projected negative social implications. We are told that reading is an activity reserved for those who are socially inept, that knowledge is willingly pursued only by the incredibly dull or the terribly eccentric. Evidence of these stereotypes can be found on just about any widely-viewed television sitcom, where the most intelligent characters are usually portrayed as having little success in social endeavors. Because this is a society so thoroughly influenced by the opinions of fake characters on television, and because we place so much importance on social status, it is not unreasonable to assume that this negative attitude toward books and knowledge is having an affect on peoples’ desire to read.
Society’s preference for meaningless television over literature is blossoming in early childhood. Today’s parents have busied themselves with their careers and have abandoned the practice of reading to their children. Mister Steiner commented quite avidly on this trend, saying “God help the culture that has stopped reading aloud to its children.” I was fortunate in my childhood in the sense that my parents instilled in me a love of books by reading to me on a nightly basis. Other children have not been so fortunate, and their parents keep them occupied and entertained with television. Alas, this is a habit that I have observed in young children everywhere from all social classes. Many are subjected to television on a near-constant basis and have virtually no contact with books. Despite being able to repeat what they have heard on television, these children seem to have little ability to understand what is being said to them, and they seldom have means of expressing themselves. They are bored, devoid of curiosity, and are absent of creativity. I suspect that not only will they have trouble in school learning basic reading and writing skills, but they will probably have no incentive to expand on these skills once they are learned. They will have no desire to become acquainted with the cultures that came before them, and will make for the next generation of expressionless, apathetic zombies.
There are glints of hope, however. Not long ago, I witnessed a rare and peculiar sight. A child, no older than seven years of age, was sitting with an open book in her lap and was completely engrossed in the pages before her. This book was no less than seven hundred pages thick, an astounding amount of reading for a child of her age. Men and women in intellectual circles often criticize the meaningfulness of Harry Potter, but they seem to miss the bigger picture: some children are willingly picking up books outside of school and actually reading them with great enthusiasm. Some adults, too, are reading these books and re-discovering the art of the written word. It’s a start, at least, and those who find meaning in books will progress to the intriguing works of writers like Hermann Hesse, Dante Alighieri, and Yukio Mishima. J.K. Rowling’s stories may not be the scholars’ choice, but they’re a step in the right direction, and much more preferable than the drivel on television today.
Perhaps the most prevalent attitude I encounter regarding literacy is the opinion that, like philosophy, it is not a “useful” pursuit in our money and status-driven society. People wishing to base their educations and careers on literature and writing are commonly met by scrutiny from their fellows. They are told to place their effort, instead, on something that will supposedly be of more use to them, implying that decent literacy is no longer of any value to our supposedly advanced civilization. Because it is not a quick route to large sums of money or grand social status, an important part of our culture is being disregarded in favor of empty materialistic interests. Somehow, the development of intellect and the ability to connect with other people through written words is no longer important enough to pursue.
The ability of written language to inspire our minds and allow us to communicate our own thoughts and experiences with others is a gift that is being cast aside, despite the fact that there is much to learn about others as well as ourselves by reading and sharing our ideas through writing. I have faith in some people to recognize this and utilize their skills to keep the art of the written word alive, though I also suspect that many people will simply abandon literacy altogether. The survival of literacy depends largely on whether our society can pull its collective head away from the concept that money and status in the present are the only things that define who we are as a civilization.