SETH MICHAEL MEYER
Staff Writer
I was recently scolded on social media for having shared an article which suggested that libraries should be privatized. “Hands off our public services,” this young Facebook warrior said. I merely shared the article because it was an interesting perspective and a good one, knowing that private competition and innovation go hand-in-hand — but that is beside the point.
I then thought to myself how magnificent it is to have the luxury to read and to have so much potential knowledge sitting on the shelves of a library. I want to stress the word “potential” because we can make the decision to not utilize our ability to read and our privilege to an abundance of reading materials and ultimately, we are deciding to not actively learn any more than we already are.
Throughout your education I am sure you have encountered articles about why reading is important and you’ve rolled your eyes at the same statistics being presented about declining readership in America. By now you are surely aware that one out of four college students haven’t read a book in the past 12 months but if and once you graduate the likelihood of non-readership in your new post-undergrad demographic shrinks to a mere 7 percent.
If money is the motive for you, then you will not want to be in the above-mentioned 7 percent. Those making 30 thousand dollars or less in annual salary have a 36 percent prevalence of non-readership compared to only a 16 percent prevalence from those making more, according to the Pew Research Center.
There are two comprehensible reasons, that I can imagine, that describes the correlation between the proclivity of reading and success in terms of financial and socio-economic status. The first is that reading can more-or-less strengthen one’s chances at success and the second being that lack of success causes one to be disinclined to literature.
Jordan Peterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and the author of “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos,” beautifully expands on the opportunity reading gives to students in terms of their success. In a speech he gave at Harvard University, he implored that becoming an articulate speaker is the most important thing for college students and that cannot be done entirely without reading.
“Read great books, really man,” Peterson said. “The reason you come to university is that there is nothing more powerful than someone who is articulate and who can think and speak . . . and if you are a master at formulating your arguments, you win everything.”
Peterson sheds light on the power that comes from those who train themselves in speaking with competence — something, I stress, is done through reading — and studies have shown the correlation of literacy and wealth so conclusively it is as certain as gravity. A study published by the Economic Journal reports frankly that “books retain explanatory power even when we select relatively homogenous groups in terms of the economic position of the household.” This study reflects the sentiments of countless others so you can be damn certain you will get something out of reading.
What Peterson along with these studies present is the ageless axiom that “knowledge is power” and that truly goes without saying.
My second point, regarding the poor socio-economic status and its effect on literacy cannot be forgotten. For many of us, it’s not hard to imagine the burdens some people in America face on a daily basis. I’m not referring to situations where your professor said something offensive and now you can’t focus in class, I’m talking about a fight for survival where the people in the situation can’t think about tomorrow because they worry about today.
These people can no longer afford rent. Maybe the power goes out on hot days or their furnace doesn’t work on brutally cold days. Pristine healthcare may not be an option and food is scarce as well.
For these people whose basic needs of food and shelter cannot be met, it is damn near impossible to be able to concern themselves with the issue of deciding what book to read next. In this instance, their literacy does not affect their socio-economic status, rather their status handicaps their chances to read.
In Latin, the word “book” is “liber” which is also a word to describe freedom. To be able to read is to have freedom from the burdens of trying to survive, as harsh as it sounds. Those of us who study liberal arts are those who are liberated from the toils of everyday life thus able to study history instead of machinery or philosophy instead of health.
All of us, as college students, have found refuge from the burdens of life. We have access to food, shelter and healthcare and are therefore at a privileged advantage to having the leisure to better ourselves through reading.
Use the luxury of time and health to enhance yourself as a student and a human being and just maybe you can use that power you’ve obtained to better the lives of others once you leave university.