How to Become Literate

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Do you sigh with envy when you find yourself chatting with a guy who seems to have a quote for every occasion from some book or other? Or maybe that girl attracted people's attention because she was able to talk about everything under the sun, saying, "I read about that once…" These people are literate – they are probably also charming and skilled at conversation, but the basis of much charm and good conversational skills is… being literate, or well-read. Being literate is not just about knowing how to read – it's about knowing what to read, and how to talk about it when the time comes. Want to know their secrets?

Steps

1. Read. First, read what interests you. Maybe you aren't really into big novels – you find them too unnerving, too much. Instead, why not try magazines at first, or graphic novels? Or pick up a book of short stories – read in small, easy to digest bits at first. But the most important thing you can do is simply commit to reading, even just a little, each day.
2. Progress to more challenging reading. After a month or two of reading a snippet here or there of this or that, try moving up to things that are a little more challenging. For example, choose a modern classic, like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (or Philosopher's, depending on where you live) Stone or one of the Lemony Snicket books. These are not just for children – they are books that have been read and enjoyed by millions of people. If you try one of these and still have trouble committing to the longer length of the read, try Reader's Digest – it offers condensed versions of regular books, along with newsy, chatty articles from lots of different magazines.
3. Find a book group. Once you've begun reading, you will want to talk over the books you're reading. Lots of people join or form book clubs. It can be simple – call your sister or brother, or a couple of friends. Meet for coffee, and there, agree on a book that you will all read. Meet again a month from that date, and hopefully you will all have finished the book, and can discuss it. Talking over things you've read can really enhance your experience of the book, as you share with friends the feelings the book evoked, or the fun you experienced as the story unfolded. Not only that, but a book club keeps you reading – you know you will be talking about this book in just a few days, so you have a goal in mind as you read.
4. Set personal goals for reading. Lots of very literate people do what is known as "parallel reading" – or reading several books at the same time. Maybe you will keep one in the bedroom and read for a bit before you sleep each night. Maybe you will keep one in the bathroom and read there for a while, or one in the den, etc. Even if you don't wish to get this crazy, you can still set goals, like, "I want to spend this next year reading classics" or "I will read all of Shakespeare's comedies this year, and next year, maybe I'll tackle the tragedies." Even if you don't achieve the entire goal, you will have still read some of what you set out to read. And that's good. Try setting a time frame within which you want achieve your reading objective.
5. Choose well-known books. If you enjoy reading offbeat things, that's fine. But if you want to become more literate in the conventional sense, you will want to choose books others have heard of. Ask your librarian to help you. Reading well-known works has two benefits: First, it gives you a common frame of reference for things you may hear from lots of other people, and second, it educates you in ways you may not have thought of. For example: Most people have heard of "To Kill A Mockingbird." At a party, one of your friends might express distaste for racial bigotry. While none of your friends are bigots (hopefully), this friend is the one who publicly took a stand against it. Saying, "You're the new Atticus Finch" is a tremendous compliment to such a person, plus you will seem very literate saying it.
6. Enjoy reading. Perhaps your taste runs more to science fiction than to classic literature – there's no shame in that. Or maybe you like more romantic fare. There's plenty to be found in literature. Or maybe you will find that you like English poetry, but are not so crazy about American. Whatever. Anything you read makes you a more literate person. It exposes you to new words, and to ideas from people all around the world, and from different times in our history. Whatever you like to read, there will certainly be plenty of reading material. So you aren't a Shakespeare buff, but you know all of Asimov's Laws of Robotics – you're still literate, and you will gain more enjoyment from your choices if you read what you are interested in.

Starter Reading Lists Here are a couple of reading lists – they're just suggestions to help you begin your adventures:

• For Classic Literature:
  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Paradise Lost by John Milton, Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, My Antonia by Willa Cather, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• For Modern Literature:
  • East of Eden by John Steinbeck, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• For Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature:
  • I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke, Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick, Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• For More Romantic Literature:
  • Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Tips

• Don't be afraid to look at the Cliff's Notes on books – especially if you've already read them. It's enlightening, and you may learn things you didn't realize while you were actually reading, which may make you like the book more or less once you know them.
• Feel free to quote from the books you've read – it's what the literati do.
• If you are from an English speaking country, the vast majority of books you will come across in bookshops will have been originally published in English. However, a very good way to expand your culture is to tackle foreign literature as well! Examples of major non-English writers include Gustave Flaubert, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Milan Kundera, Yasunari Kawabata, Federico Garcia Lorca… Not only is this a great way of becoming literate in a truly eclectic way, it will also earn you a great deal of respect from foreigners, who are seldom used to meeting English-speaking people with an interest in non-English books.

Warnings

• Once you start reading, it's hard to stop, and it's hard to part with the books you love.

• After you have been reading regularly for a while you may be tempted to think that you know quite a lot and feel that you can "show off" your newfound knowledge. Behaving in such a manner is a sure way to end up being "put in your place" by someone who has spent a life time studying and who will be able to spot a neophyte a mile away. To avoid this one should always bear in mind how much there is to know and allowing oneself to be humble in the face of this knowledge. You can also help prevent embarrassment by acknowledging up front that you are not an expert but that you have formed a partial opinion on a given topic through some exposure to the subject matter. Remember that it is generally better to be smarter than you initially look than to look smarter than you actually are.

Things You'll Need

• Books
• A reader's journal (make notes about the things you want to remember)
• Time and commitment
• A dictionary

Related wikiHows

• How to Improve Your Reading Skills
• How to Understand the Book You Are Reading
• How to View Literature Objectively

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"In our discussion about the rising burden of student loans, we received numerous comments from readers who took on a lot of debt to pay for their education. Some found they simply couldn’t afford to repay the loans with the jobs they found after college. Others said their debts determined their life choices. Still others wondered if the college experience was worth the financial burden they’ll carry for decades afterward. Here are excerpts from their comments." (Read more comments from the New York Times)

Besides, when is the last time you heard someone say that they wanted to go to college to get a degree so that they could be an enriched individual and speak intelligently about Karl Marx at family Christmas parties, or at the bar during happy hour?

EVERY time you hear people talk about "college,"  whether in the media, at a PTA meeting or in the grocery store, you also hear them talk about "jobs." You hardly ever hear someone talk about one without mentioning the other.

Take a look at these NPR headlines recently that address the very subject of College Degree & JOBS:

Job Recruiting Slows On College Campuses
by Alana Germany NPR

To Do: Get A Job
by Emma Jacobs

Graduates Brace For Worst Job Market In Years
by Larry Abramson

Job Training Gives Boost To High School Grads
by Larry Abramson

Oh, I did find one that mentions a Liberal Arts Scool

Economic Downturn Hits Liberal Arts School
by Robert Siegel

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart covers this silly controversy while poking fun at college in general.

Taylor says;

"Most graduate programs in American universities produce a product for which there is no market (candidates for teaching positions that do not exist) and develop skills for which there is diminishing demand."

I think he has some great, forward-thinking ideas. Take for example, eliminating tenure. Would it be such a bad thing to keep professors on their toes and have a constant influx of young faculty with new ideas and skills? I find it ironic that tenure was created to protect academic freedom. Yet, in many way it has resulted in a sort of academic captivity -low faculty turnover rates with professors that often get stuck in their ways. 

Taylor, who is the chairman of the religion department at Columbia University, also makes a very good point about re-evaluating permanent programs at colleges and universities. He suggests considering a water program. Duh! Come to think of it, I've never seen or heard about a water program in college. Why don't we hear about more people majoring in water conservation and protection? I know a guy who majored in Glass Blowing. I know more than one person who studied Art History. But water protection? That's a useful field of study in itself. 

All this coming from a Liberal Arts professor! By the time I got halfway through his article I decided that I really like this brave soul. Mark Taylor tells his students;

"Do not do what I do; rather, take whatever I have to offer and do with it what I could never imagine doing and then come back and tell me about it."

To me, that's kind of the idea of an evolving higher education. Maybe it's time to revolutionize the college system. I'm not saying that we should turn our backs on the arts or stop studying leisurely subjects. I"m not saying that we shouldn't study subjects that benefit us individually. But perhaps, as a whole, we should continue to include more updated, problem-solving programs and procedures so we do not fall into to an academic rut.

For the full online article click here:
End the University as We Know It
April 26, 2009
By Mark C. Taylor
The New York Times

"Folks, there's a big elephant in the classroom. The fact is, the old-fashioned model of post-secondary education in the U.S. is pretty much broken."

Just when I was starting to think I was a lonely, tiny voice who bothered at all to question the sacred institution we call college -I find a Harvard faculty member who makes some critical observations about higher education and has the guts to post them in an article on Harvard's Own Business Review!

Bronwyn Fryer says"

"Instead of preparing students for real-life, three-squares-and-a roof-over-your-head jobs, too many colleges charge massive tuition fees to impart the finer points of Proust."

Fryer also points out in her article, "Is College Working", that she has nothing against Proust or a liberal arts education. But she makes a very good point by posing the question; "why, in this economy, should I take on a massive debt for an education that's disconnected from the real world?"

Read the full article here:

Harvard Business Editor's Blog
Is College Working?

Thursday January 29, 2009
by Bronwyn Fryer

By the way, if you'd like to learn more about the work of Marcel Proust, you can get this book on Amazon.com or take a FREE online course in French and even share your thoughts in an online discussion of French Literature. (All for a mere fraction of the cost of a Harvard Credit Hour Course!) 

Executive greed is OUT
Corporate Responsibility is IN

Like many tragically outdated business executives these days, the president of the University of South Florida didn't get the memo regarding the new fashion -Corporate Responsibility.

As a result, Judy Genshaft, president of the University of South Florida, is getting some bad press. After cutting millions from USF's budget, slashing jobs and laying off staff, Genshaft gave generous bonuses to her closest high-level employees in January.

Her current style seems to say; "To hell with the recession! To hell with other lowly teacher jobs! And to hell with the tax payers' money. Me and all my hoity-toity executive buddies have bills to pay too."

Way to be discreet USF!

Links & Resources:

Cringing at USF bonuses -March 16, 2009
~St. Petersburg Times

Reviewers say that her book is an amusing look at how service workers (mainly cashiers) are often overlooked and disrespected based on Anna Sam's personal experience. But for me, it just shows that being over-educated and under-employed is an international problem. 

I contacted Anna via her blog to get her opinion. Here is what she said:

Bonjour April,

En fait, tous ces problèmes liés aux surdiplomés universitaires se retrouve de plus en plus dans tous les pays occidentaux. Et on en arrive à des extrêmes un peu fou malheureusement. 

(Roughly Translated..)

Hello April,

Yes, problems related to the surplus of college educated people are found in more and more westernized countries. We are going the extremes (of becoming educated) unfortunately.