Ms. Jardine’s approach does not change my mind on Mr.
Carrs theory because from personal experience as a college student and asking
some of my friends around campus, I know skimming is becoming more popular than
reading itself. I believe the act of
skimming over reading depends on many things other than the love for
reading. Amount of time in one’s daily
lives, money and the amount of schoolwork oriented reading you have.
I know as a college athlete
myself, my time is very limited.
Playing volleyball, practice, lifting, school work, meetings and having
the little social life I have time for, really runs the 24 hours I have every
day. I can’t seem to fit a time in for
reading a book “for fun”. This can also
be applied to older people with
jobs. They work from 8-5 normally and
then have to make dinner, help children with homework and run their kids around
to the many activities kids are involved in today. Where is the time for personal reading?
Money can also be an issue when
it comes to books. With the decrease in
jobs during this time, books maybe be something a family can’t afford. It may seem that books are just a small fee
in a person’s life but they can add up and for someone who struggles with
feeding their family, books could be something seen as a legacy in which they
cannot afford.
In so many college classes
reading and understanding a book is a huge portion of your grade. After already reading for 2 to 3 hours a
night there is no way I would want to pick up a book for pleasure when my eyes
are already crossed from scanning a book for hours. Some college students do enjoy to read, but
I, myself am completely burnt out on reading from my college classes.
Relating my blog from last week
to this week is very simple. Ms. Jardine
and Mr. Carr have completely different opinions when it comes to reading and
technology being overused or depended on.
But after previewing both opinions, I feel Mr. Carr is correct about
technology being too depended on in our generation. Skimming readings is becoming more and more
popular because time is limited and reading is getting burned out on in the
college setting. Why read a whole
article when you could skim it and get three main points for your paper. Skimming is a time saver!
Crossen, Cynthia. "Dear Book Lover: Skimming vs.
Reading - WSJ.com." Business News & Financial News - The Wall
Street Journal - Wsj.com. 15 Apr. 2009. Web. 09 Feb. 2012.
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203914304576627182901819782.html>.
I certainly agree that skimming a reading saves a lot of time that could be better used elsewhere. But I also believe that when you skim, you lose a lot, and in some cases nearly all, of the subtle nuances in the reading. Mostly for this reason, I would say that skimming is better to do when you are studying for an exam than when you are encountering the material for the first time - it lets you spread your time out while reminding you of the major points. However, I don't agree that (if you find a really good book that you truly enjoy reading) reading for class or outside work makes it less enjoyable to read overall.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your main points of skimming and its benefits, however I did mention in my blog post that you lose a good deal of the residual message when we skim through readings. As college students I find it inevitable to even consider reading entire articles when I know the days topic and what I should take from it. If you have the tools to harvest the needed information, why not use it?
ReplyDeleteI know that skimming has saved me a lot of time when it comes to cramming for an exam. This allows me to get the main points down. However, sometimes I agree with others that skimming is not enough. One could potentially miss an entire message.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on when you say you have no time to actually read for fun. I'm the same as you when you talk about have the 24hrs of your day taken up by the sport you play and schoolwork. It is definitely a challege to balance everything,and I think that this can in turn cause students to skim over the readings they are assigned because they are so busy. I can definitely relate.
ReplyDelete