Honorable Officers and Members of the Rotary Club of Manila, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I understand from your invitation that the Rotary’s theme for this month of July is Literacy. Literacy, as we all know, is simply the ability to read and write. But what a powerful ability it is! It enables a person to have access to knowledge from the great minds of many generations. It enables a person to enrich his mind, to become educated and in the end, to have a full and interesting life.
The thinker Descartes once said that “The reading of all good books is like having a conversation with the finest men and women of centuries past.” Maybe we can revise this slightly and say reading good books is like having a conversation with the finest minds of our times. By circumstance, I have always been aware of the value of books – first their real costs, in pesos and dollars; second, their real worth in substance and content and the pleasure of a good read; and third, their psychic worth: the sense of well-being reading books always gives a person. From the time I was 19 years old, when I started our small bookstore, I knew fully well how vital books are to education, in education and for education. But through the years, they have been to a tindera like me just like any consumer product. My Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2004 given by Ernst & Young & SGV was more for my skills in selling and successfully running and growing a business. The product could have been anything – dental floss, pizza or condominium units. But my family and I are truly blessed that we are in the book business.
The Luz Report (by former Undersecretary Miguel Luz) on the state of public education in the Philippines, published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, concluded that our children are not learning because they cannot read. To read means the whole package: comprehension, critical understanding of texts read and their relation or implication to a reader’s life, and the stimulation of the reader’s creative imagination to express their own similar thoughts and ideas. Reading is such a powerful tool that those who can read are empowered. And those who will read are empowered even more.
According to the 2003 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Survey (FLEMMS) done by the Literacy Coordinating Council of the Department of Education, our simple literacy rate is 93.4% - that shows that majority of our 57.5 million 10 – 64 year – olds can do basic reading and writing. But our functional literacy rate is only 84.1% which means only 84.1% of that total population can read in a way that they can develop their potential, make informed decisions, and improve the quality of their lives.
Pardon all that technical stuff which I thought was necessary for a talk on literacy as people think literacy ought to be measured and maybe they’re right. In my simple mind, I can only imagine that the best way to encourage young children to read is to surround them with books, good books. At home, in school, in the library. They must see their parents reading, their older siblings reading, their teachers reading, and their community leaders reading.
I know fully well that in our country, many cannot buy books because they have to first think of putting good food on the table, having a roof above their heads and stashing away money for medicines. But our people, impoverished though they may be, must, like all other races, be able to walk into well-lighted, well-ventilated public libraries or school libraries and read there, and truly enjoy a book or two. They don’t have to be also impoverished in mind and spirit. I have been told our bookstores have, in a way, become libraries for people, and for that, we at National Book Store are happy to be of service, but of course the negosyante in me still hopes to sell books.
The growing inability of our young to read is no longer just the problem of Reading and Language teachers. Children who are reading – impaired will never really understand Science and Math concepts. Their knowledge of our history will not be enriched by biographies and memoirs of great men and women. They will not know the magic of being carried away to other lands by mere words. Most of all, nothing will feed their imagination, make it vibrant so they can become artists, thinkers, and visionaries. We must turn building a culture of reading into a national priority – I mean “national” as a nation and not just National Book Store.s.
“Books do not only furnish a room, they furnish a life.” This is a quote from Professor Resil Mojares, one of our respected scholars in the country who the entire time has lived in Cebu. There, he has a house full of books. How so very right is he, and we who have faith in this truism must work together, consistently, to help children learn to love books and reading. Reading Books will help them tremendously in their becoming good citizens of our nation, and good human beings. Maybe we can be creative, and reinvent and imagine as many ways possible of exposing our young to as many books from across cultures. It is a long and hard way to becoming a nation of readers, but just as it is in all other businesses, we must persevere.
Ladies and Gentlemen, even in clear daylight, as I stand before you today, I dream of a future where all Filipinos love to read. I fervently hope that you could share this dream with me.
Let us tell our children –
Invest in your mind –
Read more –
Know more –
Earn more!
Maraming Salamat po – at mabuhay kayong lahat!
Socorro C. Ramos
National Book Store
July 12, 2007
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