I was once involved in interviewing some candidates for the ministry as part of a panel. I decided to ask each candidate (as the representative of the academic training institution rather than of the denomination) 'would you call yourself a reader? Do you read for pleasure?'
Of ten articulate, well-above average intelligence, gifted candidates (all males), nine said 'no'.
What is the meaning of this? Should we be concerned?
6 comments:
I know for me, I wonder whether it is because of I'm part of the MTV generation. You know, lots of entertainment, not much of anything else.
With me, I wouldn't call myself a reader, I don't read for pleasure, but I do read for reference.
Maybe it's got to do with humility. Yes they read, but perhaps not as much as the next guy, so they don't want to big-note themselves. It's the good old aussie rule of thumb: Don't act as if you're better than anyone else.
Or it might be that they never finish books and so don't feel legit. I'm always reading, but I hardly ever finish whole volumes, so do I really count?
No, you don't count, but you do read.
I was quite careful to ask in a qualified way things like 'do you read novels' etc...
The sacrament is the Word written on the body.
If God is a writer then how can we not be readers?
(Yes, I read novels, right now am working on the very disturbing American Psycho).
I read, but nowhere near as much as I'd like to. I read the New Yorker because it has good writing in shorter bursts, but apart from that it is a real effort to read outside the area of my work. I will always do it on holidays; anything from a Steve Waugh biography to Harry Potter or a book about the Crusades.
Yes, we should be concered. There is a reason that English is at the heart of a comprehensive education syllabus in NSW (and that is is that English teachers are better at arguing than teachers of other disciplines and so reign supreme - oops, how did that slip in?). Reading can broaden the mind, expand the emotional vocabulary, make someone else's experience 'normal' for a while (thus making our own a little less normal and opening the possibility of some critical distance), give examples of good communication (which doesn't always mean clear communication), provide insight into culture and be an enjoyable way of relaxing from a field of endeavour with workaholic tendencies.
I'm not too sure about the tall poppies explanation, particularly if the question is 'do you enjoy reading?' rather than 'are you a reader?'.
What would be interesting would be to compare these results (perhaps with a larger sample?) with those from other places and times. I have heard that until a few decades ago, Moore College accepted only Arts graduates. I'd certainly recommend that any eager high school student with aspirations to word-based ministry take Arts at university.
But I suspect I'm preaching to the choir, who are not listening because they have snuck in a novel or poetry anthology for consumption between songs.
Post a Comment