Reading

Ahhh I haven't blogged in such a long time! Well, I finally have the chance to now, so I'll do a quick post.

As the title suggests, this post is about reading. Yesterday, I just finished reading the latest book by my favourite author. And I realised how long it had been since I last sat down to read at my own leisure. That would be around 2 months. Before the previous book, it would have been 6 months. I really haven't had time to sit down and just read at all, ever since I entered secondary school. Well, newsflash, I love to read. I love the feel of the book in my hands, the sound when I flip the page, even the smell of the book (especially library books). The one thing I really love about reading is that you get to live, even if just for a while, in another world, in someone else's shoes. You get to experience things you know you will never experience in the real world, be it the epic fights, or the cheesy, unrealistic romances, or the wild adventures that main characters always seem to find themselves in.

As a Literature student (albeit not a very good one...), I deal with texts on a 3-day-per-week basis. And the feeling of having to analyse every single line an author writes is really excruciating, as well as a major turn off. I think it's safe to say that I love reading, and I hate Literature. The main reason I decided to take Literature was because I hated Geography even more, and that my basic command for the language allowed me to analyse texts on a slightly deeper level compared to some others (those in my class are just pros though, I could never match up to them). For those of you who don't quite know Singapore's education system, basically, you spend 4 years in secondary school. In Secondary 1 and 2, you have to take all 3 Humanities subjects, History, Geography and Literature. (We take "General Science" for Science, which is basically Physics, Chemistry and Biology together?) Then in your third year, you choose two of the three Humanities subjects, and either do Double Science (Bio-Chem or Physics-Chem) or Triple Science (all three Sciences). In Secondary 4, most students just carry on with whatever their subject choice in Secondary 3 was. For my school, you can choose to drop either Biology or Physics if you take Triple Science. That's the main gist of it, at least.

Well, back to the topic at hand. As we all know, it is the greatest sin in the Bible of Education to not test what has been taught earlier in the year, and so we have examinations based off the texts we studied. Yay, how wonderful. See, that's the thing. Education forces itself to not allow any sort of leisure inside it. Something is expected out of everything that is done. For those bookworms out there, you may think that it's the greatest honor and pleasure to have a teacher analyse everything and help you to read between the lines and fully understand what the author meant, but trust me, it gets real shitty after a few years. You have to annotate this, note that down, figure out which tool or technique the author used and sometimes, you can't help but wonder, is this what the author really meant, or did he/she unintentionally write this and it's being over-analysed? And yet, there is nothing you can do, because you're not the professional, and you're not the writer. (Not that the teachers is, but you get my point)

So being forced to read text after text, to the seriously major bookworms out there, would be paradise. I mean, I'm a bookworm myself, I would gladly read text after text with ease and pleasure too, if nothing was expected out of it. For Literature students, you're allowed the opportunity to read new texts that others may not have, but what's expected out of it is essay after essay after essay to show how much of it you "understand", based off what the teacher defines as "understand". This I say, because it is ridiculously difficult to define what "understand" truly means. You may understand something this way, but the teacher sees it differently. So, what? Is this a misunderstanding ? Or are both correct? What is the definition of "correct"? With this many things that are questionable, should every opinion be correct? (Unless it's really far-fetched, then you have no bargaining rights)

It's the same for English. During the June holidays, our teacher had assigned us holiday homework, and that had been to read any book of your choice, then write a reflection on it. Like, what the heck?? I understand that this is to check that we've really read the book, but seriously? If you're gonna make us read and write a reflection, the average student will pick a book they have read before, and quickly write a short reflection on it. No one wants to write a freaking reflection, and I'm pretty sure the teachers know that! Reading is good, but once it turns from an experience into a chore, no one's gonna do it. Again, education. Something expected out of everything. This unspoken rule is really annoying. It has taken away the joy of learning, and going for Literature lessons has become a chore.

I'm glad that this hasn't affected my passion for books. I'm not sure if you noticed, but not once have I referred to the "books" that I use for Literature as "books". If you're wondering why, it's simply because I no longer see them as such. To me, they are " texts", just like "textbooks". I find no joy in reading them, no interest in finding out what happens next. It's a bit like when you watch a draggy movie, and you're just hoping that it will end quickly so that you can do what you had planned to do after, while watching it. It's the same for me. I read the texts, not really processing at all, just trying to reach the end of the book so that I can quickly put it down and do whatever the heck I wanted to do. To all you younger readers out there, I'm not saying that you shouldn't study Literature, and that it is bad or whatever. Just make sure you have a strong command and passion for the subject before you hastily take it on. As they say, "Marry in haste, repent at leisure."

Shoutout to all you bookworms out there, as well as people, young and old! Don't ever stop reading, and don't ever stop loving to read. It's easy to read a book, but experiencing the book is whole other story! Live well, Love much, Laugh often!

-Midnight Flint