A Little Reading Never Hurt

The introduction done by Sufjan Stevens at the beginning of The Best American Nonrequired Reading makes one truly think about America’s education system. Within this introduction I believe subtle slashes are made against the way the educational institution conducts its teaching. I have heard of the Waldorf system before and in fact know some family members who are putting their kids into schools that use it. Much like the integrated math system I believe that the Waldorf system is a useless, confusing, and unnecessary way to impose learning. It says a lot about the system when someone gets to a certain grade and doesn’t know how to read. But hey, they know how to do a mosaic art piece, I'm sure that in life that will be much more helpful.

I think the introduction also says something when detailing how Stevens eventually learned to read. He learned through labels of grocery goods. I think that this may be making a comment towards are communistic nature. He didn’t learn by reading novels or articles, no, he learned through nutrition facts, ingredients, and food taglines. In this society, it is sad to say, but really for necessity purposes, that is enough of a reading education to get him by. Most people I know have never even finished a whole novel, excluding those they were required to read in class, and some people I know didn’t even read those. What we read today is labels on a number of different materialistic items instead--Clothes labels, food labels, household items labels.

I will admit that some reading is better than none. However if we as a literary society want to propel forward we must introduce some quality reading into the school systems that is intriguing enough so that every person will have at least read one novel in their lifetime.