TOEFEL ESSAYS(Is reading and writing more important now than it was in the past?)

Is reading and writing more important now than it was in the past?

It is a very dangerous thing to say that basic literacy skills are more important now than they have ever been in the past. While a strong argument can be made in favor of this idea, making such an argument would imply that reading and writing were somehow less important in the past. While there is a grain of truth to the argument that literacy was not fundamental to the daily existence of most people in the pre-Industrial Revolution period, rationalizing such a lack of need for education in such a way is the first step to withholding education from certain groups, a great social crime that has led to the disempowerment of disadvantage groups all over the world throughout history. However, if we can keep in mind that education is a basic human right, then we can discuss the strengths of the proposition that literacy is more important now than it has ever been before.

It is true that in the past the majority of people all over the world made their livelihood from agricultural activities and that the vast majority of these activities required little or no literacy skills. In some senses, we could argue that literacy skills were less important in the agricultural age than they are now, but to do so would be to forget that literacy also reflects an active mind and that people have always needed to engage in activities of the mind. For example, even though a farmer might have labored all day in her corn field, she may enjoy reading the latest Jane Austen novel when arrived at home. We can see in this example that while literacy was not directly related to this laborer's livelihood, literacy was important to her quality of life.

However, we could make a good argument that literacy is more important now that it was in the past. As we all know, the world is experiencing a revolution that may turn out to be more important than the Industrial Revolution. We are now entering the Information Age, an age in which information and knowledge have more value than the ability to build machines, create "stuff," grow crops, or even mine precious metals and produce gemstones. Nowadays, accurate information may be worth more than the most expensive Rolls-Royce or the biggest diamond. The perfect example of this increasing dominance is the explosive rise in the popularity of the Internet--the Internet offers the world countless bytes of information twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Companies all over the world, but principally in the United States, are rushing to stake their claim in cyberspace and stiff competition among companies has resulted. In order to gain dominance, these companies must have the best-skilled workers, an advanced understanding of computer systems, and good intuition about what will happen in the future. All of these abilities to compete in the global marketplace stem directly from literacy skills and those without these skills will be stuck in the service, agricultural, and heavy industry fields.

In short, we can see that people in the past who were lacking in literacy skills essentially had more company than those lacking these skills have today and could still earn their livelihood. Further, we could argue that because of the nature of the global marketplace and because of the emergence of the Information Age, we could make the argument that literacy is fundamental to professional success nowadays. However, literacy should be considered a basic human right in a literate society--all people throughout history should have learned to read and write.

 estimated score: 6.0/6.0:

For ages, reading and writing has been vital aids to the intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth of mankind. But with rapid changes in the society and scientific advancement of human race over the decades, the necessity and importance of reading and writing has increased remarkably.

Several reasons account for the lesser importance of reading and writing in the past. Firstly, education was restricted to certain sections of the society and not everyone benefited from its advantages. Only the learned few enjoyed intellectual satisfaction. Knowledge was not shared freely due to lack of proper means of communication, thus preventing many from realizing the benefits of education and learning. Secondly, technology was not so advanced in the past. Hence the general pace of life was slower than it is now and people did not feel the need to keep themselves abreast of affairs around them. In other words, the need did not arise for mass awareness and participation in efforts for intellectual enlightenment through reading and writing. Nevertheless, writing was a more popular than reading since it was the most common means of communication - in the form of letters.

However, at present the scenario has changed considerably. Innovation and change are integral parts of life. Now advancement in technology marks the day. To cope up with the rapidly evolving new ideas and concepts, reading has become more important now than ever before. Invention of high-tech gadgets and state-of-the-art information systems in areas of communication, transport and general business demands more awareness about contemporary events and changes With advancement in technology, man's eagerness to succeed has increased. Consequently the realization has dawned on him that such dreams can be materialized through intellectual advancement - a feat possible only through self reading and personal research. With the invention of computer has commenced an age of electronic communication and online commerce. Although writing letters has decreased considerably with the advent of electronic mail, it will take some time to make our varied businesses paperless. Thus though reduced, people still do some writing, wither in forms of documents, memorandums, business contracts or research papers. Education has made people more aware of his potential and reading and writing has become instrumental to man's success in today's competitive world.

 estimated score: 6.0/6.0:

While some countries have strong programs against illiteracy, others still do not care that much. But, illiteracy has become a big obstacle during the last century and is still problematic question now with quick development of technology and automation. From my everyday experience and observation I can state several factors which defend the statement that reading and writing now is more important than ever before.

First of all, it is essential for a person to have at least basic knowledge of reading and writing to survive in our society. While in the past, some people could live in wilderness or even in cities without any knowledge of written language, now it is almost impossible. The way of living has change so much that it is impossible to be a part of nation, especially in developed countries, without ability to read and write your bills, to understand your mortgage documents or job applications. Moreover, you can go nowhere by yourself but in your own small town without reading the maps and signs on the roads and in cities.

Second, nowadays, most of jobs require reading and writing as necessary skills and tendency that these skills will be more and more important for future jobs increases. In fact, because of sharp development of technology, more of jobs on the labor market are for literate people and less of them are for people without any or slight reading or writing knowledge. For example, there are not needed so much people who can work on lands or select parts in auto-factories because the machines do that kinds of jobs now. On the other hand, factories and corporations need people who can read the instructions and control the machines. It is bare true that without jobs that need only physical abilities, illiterate people are forced to be constantly on unemployment lists.

In conclusion, the most scare part of living illiterate in our society is maybe living dependable of someone. A illiterate person will have difficulties not only to do simple tasks such as writing bills, withdrawing money from cash machines, or reading menu in a restaurant, but also to be a productive and useful individual of our society with job and normal life.

 estimated score: 5.5/6.0:

I think that reading and writing is more important now than in the past. Many factors influenced to make the written expression more useful and necessary at present than in the past.

The world is changing. Information became essential, and the world is getting into a sort of communication age. A great part of this communication is written. The summary of the information, about the human knowledge, is written either in books or computer s files.

Since ancient times, men and women devoted their lives to survive and fight against nature's limitations and dangers.

They had to discover a solution for each new problem, and this is the way the civilizations began. They developed the languages to transmit knowledge, and as a need. Consequently, they needed a way to communicate and file this pool of knowledge.

At first, to read and write was only a possibility to some whose activity required it, and it was restricted to privileged people who could afford it, or get it (because of the long distances, and the availability of teachers)

Now all has changed. Women were seen only as wives whose only work was at home, and as mothers whose life should be centered on the children's care.

Today, not only read and write is essential, but also some computer skills (at least basic), among others, are seen as basic education.

There are thousands of examples, just to name some If you can't read, you could not get informed, and you can t even search for work. You could walk at the front of the windows of potential employers (who are usually asking for "help"), without notice; newspaper s adds offering jobs wouldn't be any more than paper for you. You could get irradiated inadvertently (even the information about the caution signaling, is written!).

You wouldn't even be able to visit a city without getting lost, otherwise you d have to ask people how to get everywhere. A funny proverb goes as follows "word contracts doesn't even worth the paper in which they're written", but you would never know what you are about to sign, except for what they say it says. And so on. All these situations were not so common in the past, villages were small, people trusted in other people's word, nobody traveled so much, and all knew their own town good enough. Dangerous situations were easy to recognize, unlike radioactivity, for example.

To conclude, for all the above reasons, I am convinced that read and write, is very very much important now than in the past. Otherwise I would not be here, it became so important that I have to learn how to read and write not only in my language but in a second language too. That's life (today)!

 estimated score: 5.0/6.0:

Good ideas and organization, but does not address the 'point' of the topic.

There is no doubt that Man is a social creature. As human beings, we always need to communicate with others. Communication methods took different shapes. The ancient man used his body and voice to express his fears and delights. When paper was invented, a basic form of writing was used to document thoughts. Nowadays, computer facilities, such as e-mail, appear to be the coming generation of communication methods.

In my opinion, it is the need for communication and interaction that determines the importance of reading and writing. In the past, it was satisfying to people to just communicate with neighbors. Many people never left their village, so they knew nothing about the outside world. However, they were both socially and economically satisfied. Today, as the whole world becomes a small village, the human discovery desire is stimulated. Few people are still considering local relationships enough. Most people are looking forward to establishing new overseas relations. Because traditional communication ways fail to carry such global messages, new ways are used, beginning from letters and faxes and ending with the use of computers and the Internet. This has raised the importance of reading and writing as a strict prerequisite of such modern facilities.

No one can deny the role of reading and writing in developing our style of life. One's life is as long as the lives of the authors of books he reads. Reading and writing also adds to our relationships with other people. Firstly, books we read suggest topics to discuss with others. Secondly, from books we can learn nice and polite behavior to interact with people. Thirdly, reading increases our ability to understand people. For example, we can face some hard or embarracing situation that we previously read about, so our approach to it will be better. Lastly, the age of our relationships can be longer. Consider, for instance, a friend travelling abroad. Writing to him can keep up the friendship till later eye contact. The previous benefits of reading and writing are independent of time. The message to be conveyed is that reading and writing was also important in the past.

Of course, the role of reading and writing is not restricted to helping people to communicate. To be useful to himself and to his society, man should be able to read and write. But what I want to stress is that reading and writing is a NEED not just a peripheral. This fact is time independent

Posted in: GRE AND TOEFL