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Touched by love of reading on US campus
By Kate Zhou |
November 23, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
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EDITOR'S note:This article complements that by professor Raghuram Rajan on the merits of education in two important ways. First, while professor Rajan points out that better education leads to better pay, Kate Zhou reminds us that it's not just about pay. Education should also promote the best in human values and encourage love of literature, which is often ignored. Second, Kate reminds us that education is not only about a degree but also about extending one's family values.
I was sitting in the Brown Atrium of Alvarez College Union, listening to a English literature professor of Davidson College telling us how whole-heartedly she enjoyed talking with her students.
From her eyes, I saw a true passion for literature, and also a kid-like excitement to share her passion. That moment, I thought of my dad (in Shanghai).
I can't remember exactly in which year my dad and I formed a little "family reading club."
It felt like it was always there, so naturally coming out of us, and so easily kept in the warm living room, where a whole wall of shelves held the 20,000 books my dad collected since he was a youngster with a madly beating heart for reading like me.
A "club meeting" was always like this: my dad fetches a book from the shelves according to his mood, and we sit down in a neat corner of the living room with two cups of hot tea.
My dad would start reading, and after that we would discuss what we feel. He was always a powerful reader, and I often saw his eyes watering as his voice gently touched my heart.
Traveling also is a part of our reading club. Unlike most of the other travelers, we kept books as our tour guides.
"Hunchback of Notre Dame" was with us when we stood under the massive ceiling of Notre Dame listening to the bell ring.
We let Italo Calvino introduce his "Italian Folktales" as we were on the train across the fields of rural Italy.
Joseph Addison's "On The Cries of London" accompanied us across the streets of London.
Standing in front of a statue of Sandor Petofi in Budapest, I quietly listened to dad reading a poem by Petofi, when a holy feeling filled my heart.
We share a passion for literature, and I understand why dad's voice shakes sometimes during reading just as he understands why I burst into tears hearing him. Our family reading club was always our favorite tradition, until last year when I left my home in Shanghai and came to the US.
I haven't talked with dad much since then, due to our 12 hours' time difference.
Family reading club meetings are always squeezed into the last 15 minutes of our weekly webcam talk.
Sometimes when I'm driving on the country road of southern America, passing by fields and fields of golden corn stalks and green tobacco crops, my heart would beat fast and I wish my dad was in the car, in his gentle voice reading "Gone with the Wind."
After my visit to Davidson, I'm sure my family tradition can be restored here. I saw enthusiastic professors who seek communication with students, which I don't see else.
At the end of my visit in Davidson, I was standing in front of the fireplace at Alvarez College Union, looking around. I saw students sitting together with their laptops and books, discussing. I saw them holding coffee, reading.
"Isn't this a family?" I said to myself. I can totally picture myself sitting among them in this large "living room," leading a "family reading club" meeting with my new family.
I can see myself reading to my fellows, with great passion just like my dad read to me.
I can hear myself telling them about my travel experiences, and someone would suggest, "Hey, let's go on a trip this Thanksgiving vacation. Take your books, brothers and sisters!"
Kate Zhou is a student from North Carolina, US..
I was sitting in the Brown Atrium of Alvarez College Union, listening to a English literature professor of Davidson College telling us how whole-heartedly she enjoyed talking with her students.
From her eyes, I saw a true passion for literature, and also a kid-like excitement to share her passion. That moment, I thought of my dad (in Shanghai).
I can't remember exactly in which year my dad and I formed a little "family reading club."
It felt like it was always there, so naturally coming out of us, and so easily kept in the warm living room, where a whole wall of shelves held the 20,000 books my dad collected since he was a youngster with a madly beating heart for reading like me.
A "club meeting" was always like this: my dad fetches a book from the shelves according to his mood, and we sit down in a neat corner of the living room with two cups of hot tea.
My dad would start reading, and after that we would discuss what we feel. He was always a powerful reader, and I often saw his eyes watering as his voice gently touched my heart.
Traveling also is a part of our reading club. Unlike most of the other travelers, we kept books as our tour guides.
"Hunchback of Notre Dame" was with us when we stood under the massive ceiling of Notre Dame listening to the bell ring.
We let Italo Calvino introduce his "Italian Folktales" as we were on the train across the fields of rural Italy.
Joseph Addison's "On The Cries of London" accompanied us across the streets of London.
Standing in front of a statue of Sandor Petofi in Budapest, I quietly listened to dad reading a poem by Petofi, when a holy feeling filled my heart.
We share a passion for literature, and I understand why dad's voice shakes sometimes during reading just as he understands why I burst into tears hearing him. Our family reading club was always our favorite tradition, until last year when I left my home in Shanghai and came to the US.
I haven't talked with dad much since then, due to our 12 hours' time difference.
Family reading club meetings are always squeezed into the last 15 minutes of our weekly webcam talk.
Sometimes when I'm driving on the country road of southern America, passing by fields and fields of golden corn stalks and green tobacco crops, my heart would beat fast and I wish my dad was in the car, in his gentle voice reading "Gone with the Wind."
After my visit to Davidson, I'm sure my family tradition can be restored here. I saw enthusiastic professors who seek communication with students, which I don't see else.
At the end of my visit in Davidson, I was standing in front of the fireplace at Alvarez College Union, looking around. I saw students sitting together with their laptops and books, discussing. I saw them holding coffee, reading.
"Isn't this a family?" I said to myself. I can totally picture myself sitting among them in this large "living room," leading a "family reading club" meeting with my new family.
I can see myself reading to my fellows, with great passion just like my dad read to me.
I can hear myself telling them about my travel experiences, and someone would suggest, "Hey, let's go on a trip this Thanksgiving vacation. Take your books, brothers and sisters!"
Kate Zhou is a student from North Carolina, US..
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