Summer Reading for College Freshmen: Let's Nurture the Future

The world we live in today has high expectations. In the academic realm that leads to employment, this is also true. Organizations expect prospective candidates to have loads of education and experience under their belt. However, high schools today are not as thorough in their teaching skills to students as before, which means that there are thousands of high school seniors graduating without advanced reading and writing skills. Many of these students are entering the colleges and universities without the proper knowledge of how to write a decent essay. This is indeed tragic and speaks toward the future of our youth. So, what is the solution? Colleges should implement a summer reading requirement for its incoming freshmen in order to do the following: (1) Assess their level of reading, (2) expose them to a diverse set of genres, and (3) show students how great reading can be.

Reading for basic purposes is all fine and well, but if you want to be able to understand theoretical and hypothetical issues, then being able to read and comprehend takes practice. College is apart of the growing and learning experience, but it doesn't help teachers if they have to start all over. This has been the case because lots of freshman have no idea what a preposition is or how to avoid run on sentences. Reading and writing go hand in hand, so if a student is bad at reading and comprehension, then chances are their writing skills are worse. Young adults need to realize right off that reading is insight into a world full of possibilities.

College is an opportunity for students to expose themselves to different cultures, ideas, and other great things. Reading, or specifically, reading various types of works will give students a lens into what the rest of their academic career will consist of. I was personally stunned at how little I knew once I began college. Now, I am more likely to buy a book that is academically inclined to feed the mind, instead of leisurely pursuits. There is nothing wrong with reading other books (drama, romance, or sci-fi for example) in your spare time, but also find ways to read more informative documents. All majors should know more than what they initially set out to learn. Upon graduating, students should have a broad range of information stored in their brains.

Why is it that people do not like to read? Reading evokes all sorts of ideas and gives your mind a chance to work at its best. Your imagination has no limits. Or at least this is my opinion. Students should develop a love for reading because most of their time in college is spent doing just that. The ability to absorb information will allow them to learn better and therefore make good grades. Even getting students to volunteer their services at local libraries and reading to younger students will help guide them in a positive direction.

All three of these issues are important to a student's future because reading is a big part of our daily life. The more you read, the more knowledgable you are and thats a fact. America has become too consumed with trivial things like watching reality tv all day instead of feeding their minds with valuable information. The library should be packed with people who want to learn yet everyone mostly attends in order to surf the Net. School administrators in the position to make changes should take note and re-adjust priorities for a more successful future. This would not be as hard a task as you think. Just think of it as nuturing a future generation of well informed people. The rewards could be great.