Newspapers / Bennett College Student Newspaper / Oct. 28, 1977, edition 1 / Page 3
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1977 THE BENNETT BANNER Page Three Reading Skills Are National Concern Class Surveys BC Reading by Katie Gailes During the Fall Semester of 1976-77, a survey of student read ing habits was conducted by the Business Communications class here at Bennett College. A sample of 100 subjects, randomly selected from the student roster, submitted data for the study. The survey was prompted by numerous newspaper and maga zine articles on functional illiter acy and reading disability. Func tional illiteracy is a deficiency in the basic educational skills. Read ing disability is failure to decipher print into mental and verbal com prehension of its meaning. A substantial portion of the U. S. population does not read well enough to function in society suc cessfully. A news article, appear ing in the New York Times, told this story: “Some 12 million persons, 14 years of age and older, cannot road as well as the average 4th grader. Approximately 60 percent of the 13-year-olds cannot follow direc tions in a simple cookbook; an es timated 18 million adults cannot read well enough to fill out appli cations for Medicare, Social Se curity, bank loans, or drivers’ li censes.” The students in the Business Communications class were curi ous about the quantity and quality of reading on campus. A survey instrument was drawn up and ad ministered to the randomly se lected group of students. There was an 84 percent return of the questionnaire. The largest percentage of re turns came from seniors and fresh men. This could mean that the middle college years are the most apathetic. The following magazines, listed in order of popularity, seem to be the favorites among Bennett stu dents: 1) “Essence” 2) “Ebony” 3) “Jet” 4) “Glamour” 5) “Time” 6) “Newsweek” 7) “Psychology Today.” Fifty percent of these choices appear to be choices of reading for entertainment only. Some 43 percent of the students subscribed to their favorite mag azines and 28 percent borrowed periodicals from othei's. It ap peared that students do quite a lot of reading other than text books and class assignments. In fact, 74 percent said that they read between 3 and 10 outside books per year. themselves purchased most of the books they read, with the most frequently purchased being novels. However, given a choice between reading a best-selling novel and watching the movie, 52 percent said that they would prefer watch ing the movie. However, one learns much more, they say, by reading than by hearing; there fore, we may say that one picture may be robbing students of a thousand words. Only 29 percent of the subjects had access to and used the dic- tionai’v frequently; 12 percent said that they almost never used it even though 94 percent owned a dictionary. by Sabrina D. Sturgis Barbara Hamm, senior Com munications Media (ISP) major from Baltimore, Maryland, assist ant dorm director of Jones Hall, presented last Monday evening her “one of a kind” experience in Northern California. The speech was entitled “1 Brought this Watermelon ‘Special ly fo’ y’ all!” — or “The Water- It appears that use of the dic tionary, a very old and very ef fective communication aid, prob ably should be stressed more even at the college level. Where one’s reading is done can have a decided cffect upon read ing habits and most of all upon one’s reading comprehension. When reading is done where there are many audio and visual dis tractions, the level of comprehen sion most likely will be low. The study showed that even though 40 percent of the students preferred complete silence when reading, only 5 percent did their i-eading in the library. Seventy- melon Syndrome.” Barbara, along with four other students from dif ferent colleges left on a one-month Youth Exchange tom- sponsored by the United Methodist Church from June 9 through July 9. The Youth Group toured the Northern pai't of California rep resenting various black colleges from the South-East and telling the people of the history of the Habits four percent did most of their reading in the dormitory where there is little possibility of com plete silence during normal wak ing hours. Some students indicated that they prefer reading with dis tractions such as music, T.V., or both. When asked if they were inter ested in improving their reading habits, 93 percent of the subjects answered “yes.” When students realize that there is room for im provement, they may be willing to work toward improvement. The desire to read and read better is necessary as motivation toward acquiring and improving reading skills. colleges, the curriculum, enroll ment, fees, and the campus life itself. Barbara told of her experience dealing with people who had nev er actually seen a black person or held conversation with one before, and to Barbara this was vei-y unbelievable until she had actually experienced it. The Youth Group’s first stop was in Soledad where they pre sented their first speech. Follow ing the speeches a woman ap proached them with a gift. To their surprise it was a water melon. This is where the “Water melon Syndrome” came to play. The second stop was Forrest- ville, a town located 40 miles out side Los Angeles. By this time the Youth Group knew what to expect in the towns ahead. The group was able to rekindle some positive attitudes, and went on with the business at hand of making their presentation. The next stop was Sonora, a mountainous town. Here the Youth Group was to give their presenta tion at a Youth Festival only to find out when they got there that they were being presented as “Five Gospel Singers.” “What”? said Barbara. “We weren’t even there for singing. We had no in tention of singing!” Later it was found that this was just propa ganda to get the people to come. The final stop was at Reedley, California, where the Youth Group had to sit at an exhibition table and answer the questions the peo ple might wish to ask pertaining to the colleges. It took a while for anyone to approach the table and when a woman did, all she had to say was “They need to get rid of Idi Amin.” However, the distressing point of the trip was not so much the negativism of the white people but also the lack of knowledge of the California members of the Commission on Black Colleges of the United Methodist Church. They had little information on the various Southeast Colleges and had never heard of certain black colleges. Barbara said, “I was very proud of myself because I had informa tion about my school that they didn’t even hold!” There are a total of five black Methodist churches throughout Northern California. Throughout the entire month the group were not scheduled for any of these black churches, because the Com mission had scheduled them for other churches. This was because the Commission “claimed they had picked the churches on a rotating basis,” stated Barbara. “But actu ally representatives haven’t ever been to those churches before,” she said. By the end of the tour everyone in the group had been presented a watermelon somewhere during their trip. Near to the conclusion of her speech, Barbara stated, “We must be seen as people regardless of color; we have a long way to go!” The students also said that they Long lasting protection... 1 throughout the whole day. No matter what happens during your day, you’re fresh and confident with Dial Anti-Perspirant. 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Bennett College Student Newspaper
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Oct. 28, 1977, edition 1
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