Interest in reading and writing

Interest in reading and writing

From Kompas

It is all too true that we should be concerned about the poor interest in reading and writing among most Indonesian people.

Maybe an experiment I conducted with my children, after other attempts failed to produce the right results, could serve as an example of a method to change this habit.

Every month, after payday, I brought my children, then at primary school, to a bookshop where they could pick out books suitable to their age and their interests.

To induce an interest in writing, I encouraged my children to read books about local places or a foreign country we intended to visit.

Within one week after our return, they had to make a written report about the places we had just visited.

The results were more than satisfying. All three of my children graduated from state universities and have become professionals in their chosen fields. They still enjoy reading and they also have no writing problems, I might add.

I hope that my experiment is useful as an example of a way to arouse an interest in reading and writing among many young Indonesians, since it is an important basis in the forming of professional human resources.

HIMAWAN S.

Jakarta