The Weekend Australian recently published an article by Rebecca Urban on recent comments by the headmaster of the SHORE school in Sydney - Tim Wright in a school newsletter.
He was concerned that boys were too dependent on social media and online news and that it could impact on their intellectual development.
Also, he has challenged the boys to read better quality books and challenge themselves in their reading.
I agree in particular with this statement:
“Reading develops your imagination, emotional skills and reasoning power. If I am a reader and I have chosen my reading wisely I will see through simplistic slogans, facile arguments and tinsel values. I will understand more completely the perspectives of other people and I will not believe in unidimensional solutions to life’s problems.”
I really believe that you can get great insights into the state of our world or how others see the world. I for one have believed that literary works have an underlying message that an author embeds about the world. Bear in mind that great literary works have affected historical change.
For example, Charles Dickens through his novels highlighted the atrocious conditions that workers were subjected to in 19th century Britain. That would influence improvements in working conditions and has helped each of us work in safe workplaces today.
Many teen fiction novels today are based on real-life experiences. One can gain a real understanding of the issues facing teenagers by reading the novels. In fact, they have led to a public debate on the issues themselves. This is great for the progress of society
As there is a firewall for access to The Australian online, click here to view a pdf copy of the article.
