FROM a very young age, Samoya Gordon, a grade six student of Friendship Primary School in St Catherine, learned that one crucial ingredient to success and upward mobility was having the ability to read.

During a recent Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange forum held in recognition of Child Month 2022, Gordon shared that she could not read properly when she entered grade one, but worked her way into the A stream at school and is now competing for the top student spot in her grade six class. This growth, she said, is due to her determination to become an avid reader.

“I started Friendship Primary in January when I was supposed to start in September and I did not fully understand the topics my teacher was teaching, but I like to learn so I caught on very fast. When I reached grade two, I still did not know how to read properly.

“I started to push myself and said I would start to read more books and find out new information. When I was leaving grade two, I ended up in the fast stream in grade three and from there I just went up. Right now I am pushing myself to come first in my grade six class,” she said, whilst encouraging Jamaica’s children to develop an appreciation for reading to increase their vocabulary.

St Hugh’s High School’s sixth former and National Secondary Students’ Council Region One Assistant Vice-President Danyelle-Jordan Bailey’s advice to children was that in order to avoid conflict with others, learning how to read and, by extension, how to communicate is very crucial. Bailey said it was important for them to learn different perspectives on how to formulate proper sentences which helps them engage in constructive conversation. She alluded that parents have a major role to play in getting children to develop love for reading.

“I was forced to read Nancy Drew. At the time I thought they were so boring. I read all of the Nancy Drew [books] and I also had to read Anne of Green Gables. It was this big thick book and that essentially fostered my love for words. As people, our means of communication is through language. Communication is a big part of being able to understand other people.

“One of the factors that add to conflict is lack of communication. We don’t know how to communicate properly. When you read a book, and when you learn words, you also subconsciously pick up punctuation and grammar and so you are able to go into a communication studies test or a language arts test and you are able to formulate paragraphs, stories and essays. I can see where it helped me.

“Even though I am a science student, I am able to formulate ideas that were affected by me reading those Nancy Drew books years ago. I am a writer and I love to write poetry. I know it is because reading has allowed for me to say things without saying them per se. I have seen it in a lot of children, where they pick up a book and read a story and from that they are able to create a story or they are able to branch off from that story to create a part two to the book that they just read. I can see where it has these great impacts on youth both intellectually and creatively.”

Malikai Allwood, Jamaica Prefects’ Association national treasurer and Kingston College head boy, said his passion for reading was sparked when he came across a quote which said, “People who aspire to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power that knowledge brings”.

“Personally, when growing up, I hated reading. You could not get me to sit down and read a book. But the quote shifted my entire perspective and it gave me the urge to want to know more and want to empower myself with knowledge. It has brought me some tremendous opportunities, so yes, reading is very important.”

Meanwhile, nine-year-old Tafari Wright was peeved by the reality that a lot of children cannot pronounce or even spell simple words.

“Children are out there who cannot pronounce words and when you ask a question they don’t know what you are saying. If you ask a long question, they will be like ‘what?’ You should also learn how to use a dictionary and be able to follow your own mind. When you go to big places like the Jamaica Observer [for a forum] and they ask you a question, you will be able to answer it correctly.”

His twin sister sister, Ngozi Wright, said learning to read will allow you to represent yourself well during intellectual conversations, which she felt was important.

“I think reading is very important. Because I have a lot of books in my house and I read them and learn big words and I can use them in poems and when I go on interviews. When they ask me a question, I can also use those big words that I learned from reading. It helps me to have a better education. Even if your teacher doesn’t tell you to read, if you read, when the teacher brings up the topic, you would have already read it and when your teacher sets out work for you, you can raise your hand early and say ‘miss, I am finished already’.”