c’est la vie

READ ONLY / ONLY READ

It’s mornings like these that I really dig; the rain that must have come while the world was warmly ensconced in bed has washed away the fumes of the previous day, leaving a clear sky made paler blue by the sun which has been shining exuberantly the past few days, as if to make up for the days it was smothered by a cloud of haze. A cool breeze picks up and wafts into the room from time to time - an enervating breath of fresh air.

What better way to spend a day like this than at the beach, oiled and lounging on a deck chair at KM8 or supine anywhere along the powder white beach of Sentosa, Lush 99.5 oozing out thickly from a radio. A day of tofu-brained, langourous existence. Punching in a couple of sun-drenched-brain-inspired word or two onto a laptop, writing a blog.

But of course, that’s not what I’m doing now, or where I am right now. I’m usually somewhere else from where I am.

On days like these, I think about what woould inspire me, and at this time of the year, what would inspire me next year. What would fill me with that sense of purpose, firing up the burners inside me, like a smoldering ring that draws Frodo-like me to search and brave dangers untold for it. What would pry my eyes open - and more importantly - keep them open on lazy-dog days when the rains fall from a barely brightened, iron-grey morning sky, trying to drown the world and float Noah’s Ark again. What Holy Grail to pursue next year?

Actually I do know the answer, have been considering it, turning it over and over again. It’s the simplest thing, and yet, I find the most difficult thing.

Make people read. More specifically, make students read.

‘Only Read’, I would like to call it - whatever ‘it’ might be depends on what sort of shape ‘it’ will take. But I suspect such a mod-advertising, pseudo-maxim sounding title has been used somewhere, maybe by the NLB before. No matter, I only pretend to be original.

This Grail mission has been chasing my thoughts ever since I started teaching, and especially after reading an article in ‘Time’ about the adoption of a "college novel" in many American high schools / universities due to falling  readership amongst Americans. This rather innocuous and rather innoculation-like way of injecting reading into the student body, allowing it (or hoping it will) to spread in its bloodstream of students is particularly inspiring as it doesn’t enforce, it encourages, it hopes. It’s really like introducing a bacteria into a body and hoping that the best works out, which was what my clumsy metaphors were trying to illustrate earlier on. Of course, the chances of adverse reactions are present.   

Why so old-school? Why not think of something more innovative? More sexy to pursue and spice up the resume? The word "read" has become like the other four-letter word that that used to be vulgar but now has become cool. A humongous lexical irony. And to embark on a programme that evinces and advocates the importance of one is to appear as dusty and yellowed as many a book jacket in a school library. Of the many babelicious programmes and initiatives that parade and strut around the table-top of school decision-makers, the reading programme is still one of the many old-timers on its list, but its an old hag now, to be avoided like a hobo. The teacher given this assignment cringes, as the task seems so uphill it looks like what Mount Olympus must look to a mere mortal. (A caveat I hasten to offer here is that this is not the case in all schools and does not apply to all teachers.) But I would say its like this in most. Such a task, where results and (gulp) value-addedness cannot be measured to beef up one’s performance benchmarks (and fatten the April cow) isn’t exactly delectable. But like most good teachers, it is accepted and carried out, sometimes grudgingly, sometimes inconsistently, sometimes creatively for better or worst, most of the time with little success, or measurable success.

Jo and I were talking about how she used to like to read as a child, but seemed to have lost that hobby when she got older. How does that happen, I wonder? And I recalled the period when I was in the army, when ‘life’ happened. Like a mad stallion charging out of the stables, I attacked life where I thought it was - at clubs. I don’t think I even finished one book in those two years or so - unless it was TSR or parts of a handbook about artillery specs or tactics of an infantry platoon. It happened to me too. Environment? Behaviour of a deprived young man?

Flashback to now, do I advocate reading only because I teach? Of course I do. But not before considering that no matter what, I’ve always felt guilty about not keeping up with reading during those years. And admittedly, even though the spiralling night lights were bright and the girls were pretty, it did start to feel empty. And I guess, having experienced that, I’ve gotten to be more realistic about this objective of mine. I wouldn’t expect reading rates to skyrocket, or to see a marked increase in the GP grades of many hopeful students. That just creates another pragmatic reason to read, and pragmatism kills the need to do something when the reason for it disappears. What I would achieve, I know, is that someone would have a book they would talk about whether they "luurved" it or hated it, or tell someone about, impress a girl - or boy - with it, find a common talking point with someone who has read it, or find an uncommon talking point to interest someone in, find something in that book suddenly relevant to their life sometime; spell better; speak properly in such a way that is intelligible and correct English (yes, I use the word correct) and which may not necessarily impress the socks off ‘ang-mohs’ but which at least doesn’t make them cringe or furrow their brows in desperate incomprehension; understand and appreciate the allusions that writers make because they have read enough. I would like my students to have these, and all it takes, my god its simple, is reading.

Where I am now, there are so many initiatives its blinding. They are good, as many good intentions are good. One thing that I’ve observed though, is that one fundamental thing often affects the success of these initiatives, and that is literacy. Not just being literate because that we are, but possessing a strong literary ability. The root of the problem lies in the sort of "Science and Math is important, Arts and languages are good but less important" mentality we had, which was translated into an education system that is strongly linked to the economy. That mentality, even as efforts are made to create a more holistic education model, is still largely present. The offshoot of our success is that some things have been compromised, and some of these things we realise we need now.

But here I am, digressing, something my students love that I do. The example of American high schools and universities adopting the college novel created a buzz in some ways. Students read, discussed it, argued over it. Students who didn’t read, but were curious when others talked about it, dug it out from their crowded lockers. Students who didn’t know each other had a common talking point. The novels chosen were great American ones, I think, and so they had some relevancy to American history and society, which was something that lead to more points of debate or understanding, I would assume. That’s the sort of momentum I would like to see. I wouldn’t necessarily know if Student A-Z has read something, but I could at least be assured that they would know this one book, and maybe, someday they would peruse it, even if it means they have to be marooned on an island to do that. I know I would have to be, somtimes, to be able to settle down to a book, hopefully in the state i described earlier on.

This remains a blog-in-construction, in case you are reading it. And of course these are my opinions but not necessarily representative of all that I think is true about the world. I could be wrong of course, in which case i haven’t read the right text. And in the pursuit of this quest, I may learn more about what I’ve written.             

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