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May 12, 2002
ARTICLES: Whither books?
“What a convenient and delightful world is this world of books — if you bring to this not the obligation of the students, or look upon it as an opium for idleness, but enter it rather with the enthusiasm of the adventurer.” David Grayson
SOME years ago the chief guest at a book launching ceremony asked a very pertinent question, “Why do people write books when very few people actually read them? What is it that motivates writers not only to write one book but continue to write many more when they get nothing out of it? It is both bad economics and also a sad reflection on our society which can survive without reading.”
The situation is, ostensibly, much worse now when the written word is under threat from the electronic media — the radio, television, including the ‘dish’ and the cable, CDs and VCDs, and computers. The programmes dished out by these mediums are poor linguistically, artistically and in the quality of their contents. The same applies to films, perhaps even more emphatically. The good ones are few and the bad are legion.
Yet, contrary to normal perception, it is not the influence of the electronic media that is responsible for weaning children away from books in Pakistan. If that was so, books would not have sold in millions in the US, Europe, Japan, Russia and even Iran in all major languages. There libraries burst at the seams with books and periodicals, even though the programmes over the electronic media are more vibrant, violent and volatile — some being vulgar too — that can potentially distract young minds from the thrill of reading. To understand and address this problem it is important to ask questions, even difficult and inconvenient ones, to know where we went wrong. The answers to some might embarrass us.
The appalling drop in our reading habits and loss of interest in books and magazines can be traced to the change in our values and education standards. Parents, teachers and students are hardly interested in acquiring broadbased knowledge and work only to achieve high scores in board examinations. Fred Burke of the Cambridge Syndicate rightly describes this phenomenon as “chasing shadows”.
The bestseller list of our students does not include the scriptures of Sophocles or Kalidas, Shakespeare or Shaw, Iqbal or Ghalib, but the solved papers of previous examinations and ‘keys’ to various textbooks prescribed for them that go unchanged for several years. Strange but true, teachers tend to accept absurd answers, both oral and written, that the child picks up from poorly written textbooks which are memorized for the sole purpose of getting through the exams.
How can youngsters be expected to answer questions analytically and precisely when they have not been exposed to wide reading and independent research material from other books. However, it is a known fact that in the matriculation examination examiners actually deduct marks for answers that are not reproduced verbatim from the textbook. Any effort to add to the knowledge of the pupil is viewed skeptically.
A senior educationist of the city admitted to me, without any remorse, that he did not read books, and newspapers. Given his disinterest in reading can he or his likes be expected to guide the pupils on sensible reading and help them inculcate this habit?
Therefore, it is a prerequisite to create in our teachers the awareness of the importance and power of books which in turn will encourage an appreciation for the written word when it is expressed with integrity and grace in the students as well. Conversely, there is need to develop a distaste and rejection of the written word which is stilted, mean, shoddy and deceptive. Most teachers fail to do this and, in fact, do not even realize that it is their duty to do so. Children are helped to spell their way laboriously and painfully; are taught the skill of literacy, often inadequately, and later made to read a number of prescribed books as a rather unpleasant chore.
What is the way out of this impasse? Let us start with children. Every child is born with a natural and irresistible curiosity. Even before he is able to speak he will ask questions with his gestures, his eyes, his facial expressions and his movements. As soon as he is able to speak, questions will come tumbling out of him outpacing his power of speech. At a formative age the introduction to books could quicken a child’s mind and imagination and create in him a hunger for books and the knowledge contained in them. This will lead to more questions to which the child will demand answers which can be found in books alone.
One feels that it is important to introduce our young ones to the classics but first of all we must give them a taste of the magical world of books. Any books. The child may be interested in history and biographies, and not politics. His concern may not be scientific adventures, but plays and poetry, or vice versa. Even sports and films. He should be encouraged to read the books he fancies and guided in this pursuit by both the teacher and the parent.
It is amazing how some parents take the trouble to read aloud to, or with, their little ones, books that open a window to an exciting and wonderful world of knowledge and adventure. Once the habit and love for books is inculcated the child will himself take the initiative and read independently. Don’t force Chaucer on him when he is interested in chess and wants to read all the books related to the game. If he considers Huckleberry Finn as old-fashioned and strange, and would rather read Rowling’s Harry Potter series, so be it.
We should, however, guard against inauthenticity and gibberishness. There is nothing wrong with reading electronic text as some of the finest books of the world are available through the net. It is important to specify that the computer and cyber cafes can be used for a much more useful purpose than just viewing porn or chatting. Fortunately, there are some people in our society who protest and strive to maintain the integrity of the written word and use it to improve the quality of life and thought. The fact that they constitute a small minority is heart- wrenching.
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