-1 Literature is one of the most important things in society and has been for a long

time. Literature helps people to display their thoughts without actually having to vocalize

them. This is why throughout most of our lives we have constantly been lectured on the

importance of reading whether it was in school or in our free time. Each individual

person's desire to read was inspired by different people such as parents, teachers, or it

may have just been a personal decision. Literature is one of those things that will always

be emphasized because it holds the key to knowledge and the understanding of various

issues.

Literacy is the starting point from where one begins their journey through

education. This can even be seen in early education where a large portion of time is spent

learning to read and write. Mathematics and other subjects are important, but knowing

how to read and write a few simple words are necessary to move on from kindergarten.

My own literacy experiences began early in my life. Before I could even read my parents

would read me books and then take me to the library to pick up more books in hope that I

would begin to see the correlation between how the words are spelled and how they are

said. Even though I did not attend preschool I started practicing reading and writing at an

early age. This benefited me a lot in the future because when I attended kindergarten I

had no problem with the simple words that we were being taught. In kindergarten my

class spent a proportionate amount of time on mathematics but it seemed as if a larger

amount of time was dedicated to reading. I think that so much attention was placed on

literacy because we live in a society that makes it virtually impossible to succeed in life if

a person is not adequately literate. In many jobs there is information to analyze but

without the proper literacy tools the tasks cannot be performed efficiently. "Literacy
looms as one of the great engines of profit and competitive advantage in the 20th century:

a lubricant for consumer desire; a means for integrating corporate markets; a foundation

for the deployment of weapons and other technology; a raw material in the mass

production of information(Brandt 166)." These lines further explain the crucial

importance of literacy in many aspects of life. This sheds light on why literacy is stressed

in early education because it prepares adolescents for the future.

Accessing books and computers has never been a problem, even during my early

education I owned a large amount of books. Moreover, the fact that my Mom worked for

the local public library made books and computers even more accessible. Since she

worked there I could checkout as many books as I wanted and I could use the computers

when I needed them. I spent many days at the library after school waiting on my Mom to

leave work so I had plenty of time to collect the books that I needed. In my opinion even

people who do not have computers and books at home should be able to easily access

books and computers because all they have to do is go to their local public library. For

this reason my teachers have never allowed their students to use limited access to books

and computers as a valid excuse. Although, I do agree that some people are not fortunate

enough to have the parental support to help boost their initiative to take literature

seriously. My parents support for literacy greatly influenced my willingness to read and

write. I think that when parents show support for literature it influences the child because

it helps them to begin to see the importance of literacy. My parents strongly supported

anything that had to do with my advancement in literacy. I was bought reading and

writing books, Hooked On Phonics, and various literature. Sponsors are more than just a

source for resources they can also be influential figures who initiate the want for
increased literacy.

During a person's lifetime there is usually always someone who emphasizes the

importance of literacy in order to influence a person to take time to focus on their

literacy. As I have mentioned before the people who have played the primary role as

being my literacy sponsors are my parents. Secondly, my school played a large part in my

literary experiences. Up until the eighth grade my schools had a program call

AR(Accelerated Reading). In this program students were given a set number of points to

attain that matched their reading level, and in order to obtain these points students had to

read books that had the amounts of points listed on it. The access that was provided by

my sponsors was more than adequate because I never had to struggle to attain the

necessary literature that I needed. Any piece of literature that I needed was available in

the public library, in my school library, or online for me to place an order. In high school

there was no incentive to read except for the simple fact that it was required to pass the

course. English teachers were the only teachers in school that really stressed the

importance of reading because other teachers just looked at is as something that students

had to do to complete their work. Most of the books that I read in high school were books

that had a underlying message in them. This was especially a fact when I became a junior

and I had to read books that forced me to delve deep into my mind and to think critically

about what I was reading and writing. We read many Shakespeare plays and poems that

were at first hard to interpret, but eventually I learned to decipher what was being said in

the text. In my high school there were no rules on what was acceptable for a student to

read in his or her spare time. The books, poems, and other forms of literature that I read

during my last two years of high school were very helpful because they showed me a
different perspective on how to analyze different material. This literature helped me learn

how to think outside of the box and to look past what was interpreted on the surface of a

work of literature. A few of the books that we read were civic and religious literature. The

literature we read raised questions about religion, government, and politics. It is

important that literature from all different aspects of life are read because there will be

encounters with these issues in the near future.

Literacy is something that does not reach its peak it can only improve in a person

if he or she continues to educate themselves accordingly. Sponsorship and access to

things such as books and computers can hinder the effectiveness of literature, but overall

it is almost always possible to find some form of literature lying around. In the future

literacy will continue to document our history and hold unspoken expressions that will be

passed on to the reader.