I am occasionally disappointed by students’ lack of reading culture. It would seem that most students in Mauritius do not like reading, I mean interesting reading (not the silly Mills & Boon/Harlequin/Danielle Steele type, nor reading of sensational news about celebrities or crimes).
Which to my mind is the same as saying that they don’t like to learn… You can’t learn things if you don’t like reading, can you?
One little anecdote:
I recently reminded a class of University students about a book I had cited very often to know if any had felt the need to purchase it (not an expensive buy: only Rs 525). Noone had of course. Worse, one student even asked whether it would be used for other modules, presumably to know if the purchase of the ‘commodity’ would be worth it!
Another one:
I’ve been advising all my students to take a subscription to a library such as The British Council or the Centre Culturel Charles Baudelaire since ages. Noone has yet…
Most tend to claim that books are expensive in Mauritius (I agree), that they don’t have much time to read as they work, have a family life, etc. (I won’t take that!)
Of course, one cannot blame them entirely. The system we operate in has never really allowed people (young and old) to discover the beauty of reading quality books and magazines. When they reach uni, it’s even more difficult to inculcate that culture.
Yet, sometimes it makes me feel like saying that we should not allow students in University if they do not like/love reading. I suspect that if that criterion were to be, we would have only a handful of students, if any!
I agree. Mauritian students do not like to read in general.
And I also agree with your last paragraph. People who don’t like to read should never ever be allowed to follow a course at university level.
Ki zot croire, badiné dans l’université???
What if a student decides to read about things from the internet? They are still learning although not by reading a book.
perhaps if I could get myself books of actual movies, that would really have enticed me into reading more and more…. since now I haven’t seen many such books at the British Council though or even on the market or the public library….as you said the casual Mills Boon and Danielle Steele stuffs are indeed boring and these are what we actually have stocked in those library lol……
I’ve had a growing envy to read more books since I’m in holiday but I haven’t met any good books yet. I have finished reading something by Mike Gayle : My legendary girlfriend and now I just read blogs or resources online. It isn’t the same feeling and fun as feeling the paper and turning those pages in a more relaxed way instead of the constant break infront of the screen after a long time staring at the latter.
Hmmm Christina, I thought asking you a question or perhaps you have already published something on that : what’s the difference between a journalist and a Columnist? I’ve looked the actual meaning in the dictionary but wanted more information about how this works in daily life or in the media industry…..
thanks in advance 🙂
@ Harish
Of course, I should have added the Internet, more specifically the interesting things of the Internet (it could be serious, intelligent generalist or very specific-thematic things). I think the Internet can indeed contribute to make us more intelligent. But I am sad to see that many youngsters (not all but many) actually concentrate only on chat, online flirt and banter…
@ Hans
Yeah, you’re right. It’s a pity that the light stuff gets foregrounded. You need to dig a bit but the digging is exciting and often worth it in either the Bristish Council or the CCCB. My favourite magazines in CCB are ‘Sciences Humaines’ which gives a nice round-up on Social Sciences Research in an accessible language and ‘La Recherche'(a bit more complex but insightful even for the non-scientific). I also like ‘Cahiers du Cinéma’a rather intellectual and sometimes esoteric magazine about films. And you can take these away for reading at home!
A columnist is basically someone who writes opinion pieces like editorialists (e.g. JC Cangy in Le Mauricien, S. Patel, JC Antoine in Week-End, R Bhujun, D. Bookhun, in L’express)
Journalists are people who write factual pieces but they can also act as columnists when they have some form of influence (like most of the above)
I hope it’s clear.
You have a very good point there, and unfortunately it is definitely the case that many students do not use the internet to its full potential but only for IM’ing with friends, etc.
At the risk of making a controversial comment, could the reason for this be be down to the parents not introducing their children to the joys of reading, be it in traditional book form or even on the internet!
thanks for this list, I’m gonna get on these the next time I’m riding there 🙂
thanks also for this definition…. Columnists bring in opinionated topics so how do they get this form of influence like you mentioned above? is this a type of authority that you acquire after some stage like first you become a journalist and when you get successful, you can send in your opinions as working as a Columnist?
Initially I thought people writing a particular columns like a tech column specifically was a Columnist….
Unfortunaltely that’s so true…
Before I was more into magazine reading wen was at skul..
BTW, I finally subscribed to British Council beginning of ths year :-)lol but am more using the online Athens resources…which is not that great though!
But, I can read scholarly articles/ journals kon voit pratiquement pas @ UOM library!! I read more from online resources nowadays.
And Often I look for books on communication/media and thgs related to our field of study to purchase but so rare to get such books here!
Hmmm. In my opinion, the thing is that students are not so keen to buy a book (ok let’s mention it..an expensive book) for just one semester and then afterwards leave it aside. But there are other ways of reading as you mentioned.. subscriptions at the libraries. As you mention it now, it’s been what… since seven years i have not been reading books apart newspapers. Ok Ive grapped the Harry potter book (goblet of fire) and that’s it. I think that’s the last i saw.
Perhaps if there is some kind of deadline on your students, an assignment, for example, they will be somewhat “forced” to do research work. But it’s a pity that some students at UOM still rely on spoonfeeding.
The last time I read a book must have been four years now.It was the Firm and that’s it…Not a single one apart my textbooks…
Pff…
@ Hans
Not all journalists are interested in becoming columnists. So it cannot really be considered as a natural evolution. There is some truth in what you said though that some journalists actually get noticed by their bosses and get some space for airing their views.
I also need to mention that you don’t absolutely need to be a journalist first. Sometimes papers give a special column to external people (either very good specialists/analysts in their area or high-profile people like Bernard Henri-Levy in France)
@Ishtiba
Good, I’m glad to hear that. I would like more students to prove me wrong…
@ Clive
Yeah, I could use the reward-punish technique (la carotte et le baton)… But then afterwards, they’ll get back to their old ways and just toss the books away.
In fact, I suspect that most students just toss away the knowledge acquired at University/school cos what interests them is the piece of paper at the end of the day that allows them to secure a job, get a promotion or a salary increment.
I’d rather see a real personal desire to learn and read, an eagerness to acquire knowledge, to grow intellectually.
A bit utopian though in the Mauritian set-up!
thanks indeed for the clarification about the Columnists v/s Journalists.
btw instead of putting “la corde au cou”(sorry for my vocabulary 🙁 ), you could setup things that could amuse them like holding a sharing class where they exchange books they have read with their friends or for the blogger-alike, perhaps some meme like the 52 books I’ve read could be really enthralling 🙂
I’m thinking of getting into this meme just to boost myself into accomplishing this target… would you join in if I ever send this one? 🙂
I agree about the lack of reading culture among Mauritius. I would go even further by stating that there’s a lack of interest in general knowledge among Mauritians. I just wonder how many people watch the intesting programmes like Doha Debates, Hardtalk, Have Your Say on BBC. Speaking of which, here I’ll go outside the current subject of the post, the MBC in its wisdom to promote general knowledge and English systematically replaces BBC programmes with football.
hello christina – happened to visit your blog while looking for some info for work. Funny enough I’ve been trying to get people at work to realise how bad us Mauritians are when it comes down to reading and it is getting from worse to worst everyday.
I reckon an in-depth reform of our educational system can prove to be a good way of starting to turn things around. Is it going to happen…ok lets not get into politics!!!
What are we doing to boost the reading appetite of Mauritius?
Surely there must be some easy fix… How many Primary and Secondary teachers bother about keeping themselves updated with things happening in the world? Is there any attempt in trying to adapt new teaching methods(and im not talking about the Gokhool reform here)? Are we providing enough guidance to the class on how to do research work – encourage the use of library – internet. . .
Lets develop the reading habit at the early stage of our educational system and surely we dont need any political help on this one. Thats only a couple of things where we can get started.
Should this happen now the feeling you had in class will be a complete different one in say 8-10 years time.
Are we pro-active enough as a society to try to get things sorted or just laid back?
@ Raj,
Yeah you’re quite right there. Just look at the audience figures: it’s KSBKBT (Tulsi) that is the star of TV viewing in Mauritius!
@ Shakil
Hi! Ki manière? Long time no see! It’s great to have your comments here…
You hit it right on the head. Our educational system is warped and most of the teachers in Mauritius are outdated and worse, are bad teachers cos they sustain the rote-learning system as it’s easier for them to manage and requires less imagination and creativity.
At the same time, our youth is also quite apathic and casual about learning (I’m not even talking about academc learning but a true thirst for knowledge) + the infrastructure, equipment and librtaries we have are apalling specially w.r.t. our ambition to become an intelligent island, a knowledge hub and what not…
There are some occasional initiatives (e.g. CLAC, British Council, etc.) but it’s not sufficient. There should be a complete revamping of all institutions and the govt should have an intelligent national strategy that motivates all the actors.
Do you think a govt can be intelligent????
Excellent topic, Christina!
I analyzed this phenomenon for quite some time now.
My conclusion is that it depends very much of yourself and of the family you grew up in. If the parents are the type of “thirsty” ones of culture, information, knowledge from all domains, are very close and open to their children and are engaging them in their conversations about different important topics in developing a strong general culture, the children will be more avid for information, to develop themselves, to know more and more about anything (geography, medicine, literature, history,etc, etc) and the only way to do that is to READ.
But I heard for so many times: “I do not like to read”, and this also from people who are young lecturers, etc. So no wonder what is going on.
Even more, when I write a longer email because the situation requires it, and which asks for a deeper thinking, you know what I got as response from some people who also have higher degrees? “oh, I write to much, I cannot read”. If they are not able to read an longer email, how one expects to have patience and read a real book? The problem might not be reading, but ability to understand and put the brain to work properly and make the right wiring. When I track down the phenomenon, I got to strange things happening in the respective family: lack of communication, lack of connection, lack of openess, lack of culture, etc.
I am absolutely shocked of the lack of general culture. There is no interest in knowing things outside the ones used in one’s job or field of study.
Internet is a great tool nowadays if it is used properly, not for reading “junk stuff”.
But how many persons know to use it properly? One has a lack of knowledge in some field? Subscribe to a very good newsletter and READ IT !!! Plus this will keep yourself updated.
I really dislike when I see people expecting others to do some very important things just because “this is the traditional way, I have to do the same”, otherwise…
I always like to be fully informed, so I read what is all about, in detail, because I refuse to ever be a part of an ignorant herd. And it doesn’t matter the subject: can be law, religion, etc, etc.
An advice??? Be curious and READ, READ, READ!!!! And before sustaining something, be sure you are fully informed, so again, READ!!!
And when you will get to the level to have a very broad, well developed culture, be prepared to hear strange remarks from those who do not know to appreciate having someone like you around them.
You are doing a great job with all you are posting, Christina. Courage, intelligence, honesty = the right ingredients for making a difference.
Irina
Thanks for your very nice words.
You’re right. Anyone who wants to grow intellectually needs to have this motto: READ, READ, READ!
And be curious.
I thought that the lack of curiosity and thirst for learning was very insular but apparently from your remarks, I can see it is not!
oooh, quite some reading to get to the last post…
hmmm… some people in my class have never taken a book on loan from the UoM library… drastic? Right! they do not have time??? may be yes…may be not! they reach home at 00hr and have to be at work on the next day before 07h30 till 19hr and; then return to work at 4 a.m again on the next day??? and in the little time they have, they just sleep… could all people live to that pace and be able to read a book??? i do not certainly think so… we have to provide spaces for those exceptional cases…
i happen to like reading Sciene&Vie a lot and Thank God, The Municipality of PL do have a reading library providing us with lots of good magazines(Times, Economist, Science&Vie,and even Vogue/Femina/Femmes Actuelles mesdames!!!)… Just imagine the money that goes is them weekly???? but do we really go there? or let me reframe the question? do u GIRLS/WOMEN go there for a good read? NOPE!
When you go there, you see only MEN! is it our culture that says only MEN should read and WOMEN to stay at home? certainly not! and may be, not all people know that we have a reading section at the Municipality of Pl(i did not know till 2001 though am a subscriber since 1996!!!)
there are lots of interesting books at the lIbrary (reference and lending sections)Municipality of PL but u should be able to ‘deniche la perle rare’… once i came upon a book on Journalism by two French Authors but my card was full… and the next week when i went to borrow it, it could not be found on any shelves and till now… A real pity…
REading should be a pleasure and not a boring issue… we read to enlarge our knowledge.. as Plato rightly said: Knowledge is Virtue..
I would agree with Avi: money to the sugar industry and its connections = contributions to an election campaign which = $$$ on election day. From a global perspective being a Mauritian – American who lives in the US. There is now an obsession with ethanol and biofuels in general. US farmers have planted the most corn for this year’s harvest since World War II. Everyone in the US knows biofuels especially from corn isn’t feasible but again subsidies to farmers and those states/areas = $$$ on election day. Brazil seems to have been successful with ethanol mainly due to the fact that it has economies of scale both in production and consumption. As a corporate lawyer the most feasible form of energy for the next 30 years will be natural gas – LNG. East Asian countries mostly rely on LNG now and the Europeans since their oil reserves are running out in the North sea increasingly are relying on Russian Gas.
I don’t like to read and personally I’m not into book reading. The only novels I’ve ever read were the one’s we had to read in school. However my parents always encouraged reading and got my brother and I sports illustrated because we were into sports, as we got older this turned into a subscription of the New York times and has now turned into subscriptions of the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times. I think one aspect of reading is quite cultural actually, people in the US don’t read that much especially not on the subway. Whereas in the UK everyone reads on the undergrond on the way to work, I’ve also noticed this trend in my British cousins and friends.
Well its very true. And indeed despite being a communication student i didnt.. i precise DID NOT used to read. Be it is newspapers or even books or any other reading materials. While getting ready to go work or university, I used to just hear from radio, news bulletins and other relevant comments sur les actualite. or mostly i should say when am returning back home in the car, i listen together with Dad the “hard-talks” :-). et pour les actualite, i always get the headlines and a brief summary from dad in the car 🙂 or at home while having dinnner.
But believe me ma’m from since we are doing Journalism class with you and Nad, i make it a must to “have an overview” of at least a newspaper per day. And watch le fameaux journal televise pendant o moins 15minute.
And it has reached far much better these days, since we have to perform the small exercise sur les actualites de la semaine in our class. I make it a must to READ the newspaper everyday. and as these days am during holidays, i go through all the online newspapers. And i watch news at least twice per week and i also watch International News in morning and at night..
that had been HUUUGEE progress.. all thanks to you. and these days it’s me who is “informing” and providing additional comments to dad 🙂
well as a whole i must say that reading was boring and “nightmare” to me. but nowadays it is a pleasure, which i am developing day by day. And am planning to subscribe to British Council in the week to come.
All thanks to you ma’m and i must say as well that the small exercise on happenings of the week is a very very effective teaching strategy. well done ma’m..
My message to my fellow-friends who do not like reading is to try “cultivate” the habit of reading. its very important. And reading from different sources develop the skill of reasoning and understanding the contrast of articles… and so on.
so, have a nice reading time 🙂
Well Ma’m i would like to share my improvement as per your recommendation!
I veryyyy rarely used to read newspapers or any other reading material. News: I used to hear from radio, in the car while coming back home – or the debates on the news, which dad is addicted to. Or on the dinning table I used to get to know about ‘les actualités” through him, while discussing about it.
But, rest assured ma’m, from the time that we started having the journalism lecture with you and Nad, I started ‘having a look’ at least one newspaper per day. And now since you perform the small exercise at the beginning of each lecture (journalism)… woo the improvement has climbed much better!!
i now ‘read’ all newspaper at my disposal (mostly online). i watch journal Televise at least thrice a week. I even watch international news bulletins! And whenever I am online, i always have a look at local newspapers. And more than that, I even print out articles which i find interesting. THAT’S BIIIG PROGRESS!!
I must say ma’m this teaching strategy is very very effective. And before, reading was boring and “headache” to me, but now it is a pleasure and a way to enrich my knowledge. I can now see the BIG difference, and the lack that I had.
What I would advise to people, specially students, we need to cultivate the habit of reading… It really helps..
And yes.. i am planning to subscribe to British Council very soon!! that’s another BIG progress..
thanks to you ma’m 🙂
Nausheen,
Makes me feel good to read your comments!!!
Anyone else converted?
@Harish
Reading “things” on the internet is not the same as reading books. Do you really believe that someone can curl with their desktop computer and read Hamlet?
Another point, the Internet makes it easy to find information you are looking for. It’s not always easy to find the information in one place though. You may have to browse a dozen sites to find one that satisfy your needs.
A book contains related information in one place, is easy on the eyes (better than my iPhone), portable, cheap, etc.
You can borrow, lend, trade, write in and do may things you can’t do on a desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile computer.
I love to read. I have only converted during the past 5 years but I know one thing: I have Never read anything that has gone to waste.
I read with one thing in mind: I only have to learn 1 thing from this book. That one thing will make me smarter. Trust me, I always learn many things and I am smarter because of my reading.
It’s quite rude and childish about this comment made by Avinash Meetoo ” People who don’t like to read should never ever be allowed to follow a course at university level.”
We all know the discrepancies of our education system which liquidates 40% of our future at any early age, and further when if someone manages to enter into a non-star school they are already branded as sub-class category people “Average individual”. Let me say to you, I am one of those labelled individual who was doomed by the so called “educators” . I faced the humiliation of being disqualified or not won numerous competition organised during my secondary school days just for the reason I didnot belong the “dream team laureate producing colleges” despite brilliant performances. On an pedagogical perspective, I am the late developers who acquired the cognitive skills a bit late in life but still my whole personality gained momentum when I enrolled at UoM. Let me remind my “Learned” friend, President Abraham Lincoln started reading and speaking induction courses at the age of 17 and pursue to fulfill his American dream to become one of the most greatest American President in the US history.
Return to our mundane discussion, intelligence is not solely gained by genetics or drinking miraculous products, but by contact and discussion with an intellectually stimulation environment. By my experience, I was a regular reader of major magazine such as The Economist, Time, Newsweek, Business Week etc… but the passion to read further to develop the intellectual fiber was gained during my stay at UoM whilst deliberations with friends and academics. To say banned people who do not read is simply an elitist argument without a thourough understanding behind the problems of reading culture in Paradise Island. I hope my learned friend who considered himself an “Elite” and a “Think Tank” will learn in the future to think responsibly before making statement which can offend other people.
The comment is not childish. It’s designed to spark a debate. If one cannot challenge the status quo, what’s the use?
In any case, the comment originated from a University Professor of South Africa.
If you have acquired the love of reading, albeit a little late according to what you say yourself, that is an excellent thing.
The problem we face as lecturers is that students massively do not read and are not even willing to make the effort. And they consequently have very little knowledge other than what is given in class and in the form of lecture notes (even then, there’s a lot of selective attention, retention and distortion) and can scarcely hold an intelligent conversation.
Thankfully, we do have a handful of students who still give us hope and we know that they will grow because they have been able to make the most of opportunities given to them at university, one of them being access to intelligent reading matter and exchange of ideas.
What we worry about are those who do not… and there are way too many of them unfortunately.
This post was very interesting. Do the students not use the library at the university? Presumably it must be well stocked with options for everyone.
Or recently, Kindles are super popular (a number of students and also colleagues at the school I teach at have them), and so many classic texts can be bought for free or super cheap, like less than a pound. I wonder if that might be a viable option for you to propose to them?
Oops, I only checked the date of the post now, ha ha. I bet things have changed in six years 😉
Students do use the library at the University but mainly because of assignments and not necessarily out of their own curiosity. I have to say that the library is not a very attractive one though.
Kindles are indeed wonderful (I have one) but they are not sold in Mauritius. The few people who have one are those who travel, have relatives abroad or have ordered online (not so widespread here). We also do not get access to the discounted ebooks as these tend to be restricted to the US or European countries.
I have to say though that I was quite surprised to learn that the Book Fair Confluences 2014 attracted a lot of people this year and was a great success. The Institut Francais de Maurice (former Centre Culturel Charles Baudelaire) is doing a tremendous job as well with a well endowed library, access to electronic books and nice events. The British Council however closed down its library a few years ago.
At least they read extensively. Though I agree i won’t help much as to what pertains to their particular courses. But if one also read for pleasure, outside courses, there’s a lot s/he is learning. And there is interesting knowledge one gets from that