DO COLLEGE STUDENT READ ENOUGH?

TITLE: DO COLLEGE STUDENT READ ENOUGH?
“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader” said by Margaret Fuller (Anonymous, 2014) indicate how much important is reading that can make a college student achieve successful position during their studying period and career period. According to statistics by Dr. Abu Hassan Hasbullah, a lecturer who works in University Malaya in Mass Media Department, Malaysian graduates only reads four books throughout three years of their studying period which shows Malaysian students are unaware about the problem of poor reading habits which indicate that less knowledgeable and less innovative graduate produced from Malaysia (Zain, 2014). In my view, over-usage of technology gadget, failure of parents and teachers to encourage reading and college students tendencies to spend lots of leisure time on outdoor activities have been main factors for college student not spending enough time on reading.
Firstly, over-usage of technology gadget such as tablets & smartphones can lead to poor reading habits among college students. They tend to spend lots of time on gadget applications and social networks like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp & Viber. This makes them addicted by using long period and lack of interest on reading which can lead to less engaged in extensive reading and lack of reading deeply (Karim & Hasan, 2007). Even college student have interest on reading, they would prefer spent more on skimming and browsing information on the internet like e-books, search engine website and digital library for reference purpose which shows traditional reading method have been dashed in this digital era due to can be accessible online anywhere and anytime, time and money able to save and convenient (Mohamed, et al., 2012).
Secondly, failure of parent and lecturers encourage on reading have been declining among university or college students tremendously. Parents are too busy on working till they forget to encourage and spending time with their children on reading, monitor their children on reading and buy sufficient reading material since young age. The combination of deficient decoding skills, lack of practice and difficult materials results in unrewarding early reading experiences that lead to less involvement in reading-related activities among college students since young age (Cunningham & Stanovich, 2001). Teacher and lecturer have always been spoon feeding students by giving tips or area to focus which lead students take granted for the subject and omit the reading habits totally in their daily life. If this scenario continues, the future of Malaysia will be guided by reluctant readers who are “retarded” in terms of knowledge, intelligence and maturity (Karim & Hasan, 2007).
Finally, spending leisure time unnecessarily and extravagantly on outdoor activities like snooker, clubbing and loitering is one of the factors contributing to failure of reading among college students. College students could engage in such bad activities due to their close friends which known as peer influence until they don’t realize their duty as a student to read is so crucial for their future which can create them a good value person and high knowledgeable person. College students feel reading a lot would make them labeled as “bookworm” and they will stay away from books which makes student reading habit in this digital era contrast with previous era getting poorer. Even though student would share reading material among themselves, books have not been seen as a high valuable asset to be given as a gift (Mohamed, et al., 2012).
In a nutshell, I feel that college students are not reading enough which can affect on creating knowledgeable leaders in the future and Malaysia’s aim on transforming into high income country in 2020. College student who lack reading habits should turn over a new leaf by taking initiative on several ways to improve their reading habits like encourage student to share cost of reading materials on a more regular basis or taking advantage of reading station or library which suggested by Mohamed, et al. (2012). By this way, over-usage of technology gadget, failure of parent and teachers encouraging on reading and college student tend to spend lots of leisure time on outdoor activities will not be a big deal on resolving reading habits among college students.

Reference
Anonymous. (2014). Quotable Reading Quotes. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from Reading Rockets: http://www.readingrockets.org/books/fun/quotable
Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (2001). What Reading Does for the Mind. Direct Instruction, 1(2), 137-148.
Karim, N. S., & Hasan, A. (2007). Reading Habits and attitude in the digital age. Emerald Insight, 25, 285-298.
Mohamed, M., Rahman, R. A., Tin, L. C., Hashim, H., Maarof, H., Nasir, N., . . . Jumari, N. F. (2012). Reading behaviors of students in Kolej Datin Seri Endon (KDSE). Emerald Insight, 26(4), 381-390.
Zain, S. M. (2014). Budaya Ilmu dalam Kalangan Rakyat Malaysia. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from Klik Web DBP "Yang baik budi,yang indah bahasa": http://klikweb.dbp.my/wordpress/?p=1254