JewellENG1101D379/C379

Being forced into having a tutor and being forced in a English as a second language class shaped my experiences with reading and writing throughout my life. This gave me my laid back lazy personality I have today. Being forced into doing something i don’t want to do or don’t need, made me hate reading books or doing work that I am not interested in. This made me hate school do to the fact that i knew i was going to be forced to do things I did not want to do. This isn’t the case all the time because there are some things  that I in fact due find interesting about reading and writing or school in general but for the most part my past experiences overall made me dislike reading and writing. Despite disliking reading and writing, I find it to be essential and it is something you must learn to do. Without those skills there is no way you can make it far in life. By saying this i do believe however the American education system can be changed in a way. For example the American education system should give the students and the teachers the option to learn and teach anything they find to be interesting. Schools and teachers shouldn’t have to follow a certain curriculum to teach students. Teachers should be allowed to teach what they find interesting to intrigue the students and catch their attention. I vividly remember my ESL class however I do remember that I found it boring, This made me realize in order to enjoy reading or writing, you have to write about something you enjoy, something you find intriguing. My experience has also made me understand the purpose of reading and writing. The reason i was in esl in the first place was because my parents thought I was mute not because I couldn’t understand the language, in my head I was saying to myself, “ Why am I in this class when i understand the english language well?” however that is the point, It is to get you to understand anything it is you need help on. For example, what do you do when you have an upcoming quiz or exam? You study, studying is a form of reading and writing notes, This help you gets a better understanding of the material you must learn. It is essential in everyday life to know how to read and write. In a way im glad I got to experience that esl class because it made me realize just how important it is to be able to read and write. My personal experience also helped me to realize if you don’t open your mind to different things out of your comfort zone, there is  no way you will be able to learn. For example, you won’t find a lot of things being taught to you interesting, Like me i hate learning about history and I find most of it to be boring but it is important to open your mind and see it from a different point of view to try to understand it better. If you look at everything with tunnel vision there is no way you’ll be able to learn anything.

 

There was a time around 2nd grade when I was a small kid and I vaguely remember having a writing assignment that my class had for spring break. It was to write a small book or story about anything that you want. It could be on what you did over the break, what is your favorite food, book, movie, etc. Before given this assignment, I went downtown to visit the transit museum with my aunt because I really had an interest for trains. Everyday when going to elementary school, middle school, my first year of high school and even college, I would always ride the train. Not just going to school though, pretty much anywhere else going downtown or uptown. By myself or with my family. Although, I did lose my interest in trains a while ago because of video games and learning that working at the MTA doesn’t make you that money, it just sort of drifted off. It’s still something I hold close to me. I went down to the transit museum during one weekend and had a look around of how the trains worked and even saw some old model trains from when the system first began. There was also one part for the buses but that wasn’t what I was into. A little while after leaving, I started working on the book about trains and what I learned about them. At this point, I don’t recall what I wrote on it and I’m not sure if I even have the book on me anymore due to the amount of spring cleaning from then to now. All I know is that upon giving the book, the 2nd grade teachers were excited and loved the book. I did like writing sometimes when I was younger and I still do now to a degree, especially in high school when I wrote plays for playwriting class. In high school, I had playwriting for about 2 years. It was getting a little repetitive around the 2nd year, but I sucked it up and went along with it. In playwriting, we had free reign to write plays about anything we want, with the expectation that there isn’t too much cursing in them. My teacher didn’t really like cursing being overused, however using 1 or 2 is fine. During my time in that class, I had wrote about 4 plays and even had some of them performed by other classmates. Sadly, it never really made it to be a fully acted play as other plays were favored because of friends, but I still enjoyed making them. I took my time with them making sure if made sense, no grammar errors, soft flowing, everything. The longest play I made was around 22 pages. I still have thankfully due to them being on the internet, so if I need any inspirations, I’ll just look at my old plays. I did learn over the years that  I can write anything I want whenever I want. Even if it makes no sense or questionable, it’s me writing it, not anyone else. Playwriting really opened that up for me as I enjoyed writing plays. Hopefully, I can learn a lot more about structure in this class.

 

I don’t read “real”  books anymore. I don’t believe I’ve finished a book from cover to cover unless it was on my phone and written by some 16 year old in Nevada. Weirdly enough, I don’t think I want to pick up a real book again yet I love to read. There isn’t a second of the day where I wouldn’t be caught reading something yet its never seen because it all exists on my phone.

 

This infatuation with books created by non-published authors started in the 7th grade. I had a very close friend, my best friend to this day actually, introduce me to an app called Wattpad.

 

“Why are you always on your phone in class? You know she’s always watching us and you’ll get caught.” I said. She looked at me as if to say ‘do you believe I actually care about getting caught?’ And of course, she didn’t. She had a rebellious streak since I met her so, instead of putting the phone away she turns the screen towards me.

 

“I’m reading. That’s the point of silent reading time right?” she responded. She wasn’t exactly wrong but she wasn’t right either. We were supposed to under the teacher’s directions, pick a book at our reading level and read for 30 mins then log it. It was in every aspect a waste of time because the books were boring so most people just took naps or snuck in doing their homework for the next class. I thought it was dumb because my reading level restricted me. I was stuck at a level Y all because I couldn’t answer a question right on the comprehension test after the reading. I don’t believe it’s because I couldn’t answer the question correctly, I just didn’t answer in a way rudimentary education demanded. I know I wasn’t the only one discouraged because my imagination was just too broad when it came to drawing my own conclusions. 

 

I take a peek at her phone and yeah she’s actually reading.

 

“It’s called Wattpad.” She answered my unasked question. I’m sure the curiosity showed via my facial expression.

 

“It’s an app where you can read books written by other people.” She continued, “You can write books on here too. I started writing my own.” and her saying that really piqued my interest.

 

“So these are made by actual people?” I ask. Thinking about it now, published books are made by actual people as well, but they feel different. I wanted to know more and she recommended I create an account so I did. “Spiceberry224”  with her cringe-worthy name was born in October of 2012 (and is still on Wattpad today just many name changes later). I added book after book to my library and I couldn’t stop reading. It baffled me how some people my age we’re getting to express themselves while I was still writing essays on the meaning of metaphors in a short story that I can’t remember today.

 

From that day on I never touched a real book again. To me what I was reading held more weight in its words than all the books on the shelf combined. I connected more with the 17-year-old attempting to write a romance novel than Shakespeare writing a tragic story about these two idiots falling in love and causing multiple deaths in a matter of four days. Yet schools would rather we read the latter as if they deserve more credit because their books have two pieces of cardstock binding them together. I later began to write on Wattpad seeing as I got inspired by books I was reading. How could a book that prompted me to begin writing and enjoying doing so be discredited by a system of learning because of something as silly as not having a publishing company backing it? It seems a bit regressive for schools to encourage higher learning while keeping you stuck in a box made way back in the 17th century. 

 

I could name reasons all day as to why our education system isn’t the best environment for a reader or writer, but I’ll end saying just one last thing: I refuse to let education determine what is and isn’t acceptable to read and write anymore. It’s the equivalent of letting a stranger choose what food you like to eat; it’s completely nonsensical because nobody but you should be able to determine these things. I have actually learned while reading these books and I have advanced as a writer by picking up proper grammar and vocabulary along the way. I will continue reading on Wattpad, Webtoons, Webnovel, and any other unconventional reading app that stimulates my mind to create. Otherwise, I’d have to say my life as a reader would be boring and meet a slow uneventful demise.

Ashfaque Shafi

Eng1101 09/18/19

Reading and writing nowadays can be frustrating. Ever since I was a kid, reading and writing essays wasn’t really kind of my thing. I mean , who wants to read and write nowadays? We have phones and computers for that. (Even this homework is on computer). Technology has grown so much that we don’t need pen and paper to make notes. A simple click on a phone can do it all. I used to take hours during reading because I would not understand the sentences. I would read a passage and forget about it. Hence, it used to take me longer than usual to understand a passage then write a piece on it. And sometimes I still do. And during writing, I Used to spend so much time planning on what to write, then rush into writing and trying to finish because I don’t have time anymore. I never really liked writing. However, after coming to this country , I started off with hardship. I realized what life really is. What being an adult really is when I had to take care of my entire family. I had two jobs and was paying all the bills and feeding the family. It was stressful. But I never complained because they are my family. I lived in Michigan for a year then I moved to New York to study and Pursue my dreams. But things got even worse over here. I have a lot of friends here in New York that are always there for me. Due to few personal situations I had to go through , I noticed, talking about it really didn’t help me relief my stress. So I decided to write. I wrote everything that was bothering me as if I’m talking to someone. I started Writing all my problems down as if I was sharing my deep secrets to someone. I felt kinda peace from it. I noticed that the thing I never really liked, is the thing that really helped me out through all the stress and other issues I had. Writing just helps me stay calm because I’m all alone and writing whatever I want with no one bother me- just me sharing my feelings to help me relieve from stress.

This has changed the way I completely see reading and writing. For me it’s not frustrating anymore. I realize the skills we learned in school about reading and writing, actually helped me a lot. Writing reduces the level of stress and actually increases the focus level drastically. It helps you become smarter, to bring back your imagination. Typing something on a screen will not make you smarter or relaxed, neither it will help you be creative. That’s why I agree with the education system. Not only their help you learn, they also open up your imagination, motivate you to build or create new things, such as storytelling, arts and crafts etc. It also clears your mind and helps you learn better. When we are using our electronic devices, a chemical named Dr. mine is released in your brain, which makes you feel good because you are using on the phone. So, in situations like this, or brain is too busy waiting to receive messages, emails, etc. Our brain is not functioning properly like it is supposed to. Instead of thinking, the brain is just waiting. Hence, the level of creativity is reduced. So, I think the way American education systems are structured, it helps improve our brain focus and creativity level and helps us become a better person. However, I do support electronic use. It makes life so much easier because it is faster to get work done. I think we can all agree without technology our life would have been so much harder. But I feel like sometimes we need A break from technology and write the old fashioned way.

My personal experience is I feel relieved and peace when I write So for any essay homework that needs to be submitted online, I first write down my draft, then I use the dictation feature on my phone to type up my essay to make it quicker or I just scan my writing and send it to my professor as an attachment. Because of the piece I find on writing, I fully support the American education system with their way of helping students build and improve their imagination and creativity