Once you learn to read, you
cannot "not-read".
When your eyes see a written
stimulus somewhere, your brain will do it's best to interpret it.
Even if it's written in a
different language.
There are popular Facebook
pictures where the letters are mixed up or replaced by numbers or both.
You are buttered up by telling
you how hard it is for the brain to read the text.
And how only the intelligent
people are able to read it.
And then you are asked to share
the picture.
Reading is a complex mental
process.
While writing is a medium of communication that
represents language through the inscription of signs and symbols,
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding
symbols in order to construct or derive meaning.
Reading is not just remembering your letters.
It is very far away from an automat function, and
actually activates high number of places in our brain.
It is true, if you are able to read a text, you are
intelligent.
And if you are able to read of text with jumbled up
letters and numbers, it means that your brain has been trained to the maximum
in this highly complex skill.
But reading isn’t just putting letters in order in
your head.
It is a means of language acquisition, of
communication, and of sharing information.
Reading is part of human language, and like all
language, it is a complex interaction between the text and the reader.
This interaction is shaped by the reader’s prior
knowledge, experiences, attitude, and language community which is culturally
and socially situated.
Reading is not a passive activity.
In fact, the reading process requires continuous
practice, development and refinement.
Reading also requires creativity and critical
analysis.
Our brain is a wonderful thing.
It is amazing that we are able to interpret mere inscripted
signs and symbols and draw a meaning from them.
And although writing relies on many of the same
structures of speech, such as vocabulary, grammar and semantics,
Writing is not a language but a form of technology.
Our reading and writing skills has been instrumental
in keeping history, dissemination of knowledge and the formation of legal
systems.
It may seem such a little thing, a letter or a number,
but in reality, it is the keeper of vast cultural knowledge.
Keeper of our history and identity.
And being able to interpret is not just reading,
riting and rithmatics.
It is decoding and interpreting a complex system of
signs and symbols.
Something that human brain isn’t really ready to do
before its sixth birthday.
