Why Should Students Read More?
posted on Mar 11, 2020
Entertainment for modern school-going students has changed drastically. It has become more fast-paced with the easy availability of games, media, and e-resources
Entertainment for modern school-going students has changed drastically. It has become more fast-paced with the easy availability of games, media, and e-resources. Not that they are specifically entirely harmful, but the amount of information that students are consuming in a limited span is adversely impacting their concentration, emotional health, knowledge depth, and social skills. Today, students prefer watching the movie (faster and entertaining) instead of reading the actual book, play games online rather than going out to the field. Isolation is creeping in; children are more anxious. Their performance is taking a hit closely followed by their potential.
The conventional form of entertainment where children sat down with books has impressive benefits. Indulging in books impact students in unexpected ways, both in their personal and professional lives. This is precisely why the best schools in Greater Noida West still maintains expansive libraries filled with real books and have not replaced them with high-tech computers and e-resources. Modern entertainment can surely form a part of students’ free time. It cannot take over completely.
Fiction inspires imagination, non-fiction improves skills
Any fictional content is a work of imagination. And imagination is known to be contagious. With fictional media content, the visuals take away the mind’s capacity to form characters, paint scenes, think of possible environments, and imagine settings. But books are a mere flow of words. Fiction books compel the mind to work harder to understand the story and leads to greater imagination and creativity. On the flip side, non-fiction, which is nothing but helpful information, gives students different perspectives, exposes them to various scenarios without actual relocation, and creates the required base for ideas to form and cultivate in the mind. Both fiction and non-fiction books are helpful in their own ways and students need both to grow.
Books enhance memory and concentration
Recent researches have busted the previously known fact that brain cells stop forming after the age of 18. In fact, the brain continues to grow and develop for a longer duration and become better shaped when stimulated properly in the early years. Here again, when the mind has nothing to work with but a few pages of words, it works hard to remember characters, multiple plots, personalities, and information. The more the memory works, the better it becomes, and the more the mind concentrates, the less distracted it stays. To read the book at hand only, students will have to cut off every other source of attention demands. By concentrating on just one book, they command greater control over their attention and focus.
Literary skills develop as a by-product
The Best CBSE Schools in Greater Noida West inculcates the habit of reading books among their young students to form the foundation of literary skill development. Growing up, as students start reading out of habit, they will have to exert less effort to work on their writing, speaking, listening, and vocabulary skills. Ardent readers are proficient communicators. They speak and write convincingly and automatically use words that resonate with social gatherings. As the mind continues to see more and more words, it remembers and uses them during expression. All these happen unconsciously. Behind our conscious attention, our minds pick up whatever literary skills it has to from books and goes on developing.
Reading alone reduces stress by 68%
Apart from meditation and exercise, no other agent is capable of combating stress and anxiety to this extent. The scientific reasoning is quite simple. Books present information over an expansive span of time. It is not instantaneous and the mind does not have to work like a machine. Also, focused attention reduces the mind’s work to jump from one activity to another or constantly plan and worry about things that may or may not happen. Reading does keep students calmer, it induces better sleep than watching TV, and fills the memory with constructive information that helps to fight the stress hormones. It is always a better idea to relax with a book rather than a smartphone.
There is no substitute for a good book
And the top schools in Noida Extension will preach this day in and day out. Some schools also have compulsory library visits scheduled just to expose their students to the array of books available. The idea is to cultivate the seed of curiosity and show students what they are missing out on. The BGS Vijnatham School is one such advocate of books and reading. Amidst its technological infrastructure and smart learning, it maintains that learning is continuous and rigorous and books are the perfect conveyors. BGS students are not forced to pick up a book. But the access is always available. The school merely inspires; the action is left upon the students.