McKinley Junior High School - Purple and Gold Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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TTTTTYYY1 TTTYYYTTY Reading the Basis of All Subjects qq .'n ,, ing and writing werethen unheard of The people did ,I Q' i l vented 1 language the people had no reading Read- hlff ' u N THE early ages, when the prehistoric man first iri- QZJEE. , V , I . 59 Nifkl'lt39 not care to record any of their business or events. That is why we have little or no knowledge of the people and their ways before reading and writing came into eltect. Then came the Egyptians who began to use hieroglyphics, a pic- ture writing. But this writing was not accurate enough because these pictures had no definite meaning. One man would decipher the pic- ture of a dog and a cow as meaning Someone had died, while another man would decipher it as meaning Someone was dying, fort' a dog meant someone unknown and a cow was then the symbol of death. - Then came the really definite writing which had one meaning. The Babyloniarns wrote their business on clay tablets, many of which are still preserved. Ever since then people have become more and more educated until it came to be that in our time we cannot get along very well without knowing how to read and also to write. Reading is one of the most important subjects, because if we could' not read, we could not' write nor do algebra, nor any of the sub- jects that are taught in school. In fact every study in school ha' some kind of writing, and we must know how to read to study these subjects. Much reading must be done in English, history, and various sciences. There are many other subjects in which reading plays an important part. One half or more of the knowledge we have has been attained through reading. Reading will help us also after we G-nish school, because if we should go into business for ourselves and we could not read, we would need a private secretary and most people who just start out in the business world cannot afford a private secretary. If we could not read, we couldn't learn the laws. In political life, too, the people who cannot read the papers cannot expect to take part in making the laws of our country. Without reading we would not have as many pastimes as we have at this time. We have a large public library. which would be of no use of most of the people could not read. Foreign papers are sold in the United States to give pastimes to the foreigners who cannot V3 XILLLALLJLLLLLLLLLL 11

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Y F. TYTTTYYWWQFTYYYYYY read our language. We also have night schools for such people who can-not read, even for the people of our own nation who cannot read. A person who can read well can make the most dry and un- interesting book seem interesting. We can gain through reading the knowledge which men have worked and studied years to obtain. People cannot keep all the knowledge that they attain in their minds, so we have books to keep the knowledge for them. For people who have little time, magazines on every conceivable subject are pub- lished. Then too, there are those who prefer to gain their informa- tion in easier ways. For them the motion picture with illuminating titles serves the purpose. Reading is the chief communication between the civilized coun- tries. It is influential toward everything. A person who cannot read is shut off from the world and is blind to the walks of life and all its pleasures. Russians, French, Jewish, Irish, and all the other civilized people have their own language, and reading and writing is, of course, used. Foreigners who come over to the United States seem uneducated just because they have no knowledge of our language, while over in their country they know much more than many of us. This shows that in one part of the world a person seems uneducated while in another part of the world a person smart and wise. All this comes from knowing only the language of one's own country and no others. It pays to know more than one language. Many people of this country and of other cou-ntries know more than one language. Some even know as many as twen- ty to twenty-Eve different languages or at least most of the languages. Reading is the door leading into the room of knowledge. It is the foundation of all knowledge, and is a help to everybody from the richest to the poorest of people. We go to reading continually to look up things we do not know. Reading is the only way of keeping the language correct through all the generations. Looking back several generations shows that most, if not all, of the great men, were fond of reading. Abraham Lincoln is a good example. And also John O. Adams is another example, for he kept quite a large library in his borne at Mount Vernon. Whether in a fire-lighted cabin or a luxurious mansion a book benedts the reader. Correct reading broadens our view, strengthens our mind, enlarges our im- maginative powers and helps our ability to understand things which we did not understand before the time of reading. A person's suc- cess in life is due to his ability in reading, because it has helped him to understand his position or occupation. Reading is essential to the greater progress in every known manner.-A9 CLASSES OF ROOM 30. - E A iii W. I Lllllllllllkllllil Ll?