Portfolio: Final Exam Frame 1

For many, reading a form and filling it out has just come second nature for them. But for others, filling out the smallest, simplest form can be quite a struggle. Since the numbers of those who find reading second nature is significantly low even with all the education resources available, we have found that it is necessary to create electronic help on programs such as Microsoft word. There is not only spell and grammar check, but it also supplies us with subroutines like paragraph structure and correct syntax. These types of programs and tools are found completely necessary due to the lack of individuals that can fluently read and comprehend. But I find these are completely unnecessary and we need to find a way to get away from all the electronics we are constantly relying ourselves upon.

Geoffrey Meredith points out that despite all the education many individuals may have, they can’t read or comprehend well enough to fill out a form, and if they can, they can’t understand Tom Wolfe. Just because of this problem, we found we had to create a program and multiple tools to “fix” their writing. But does this really help them? Or does it just do the work for them, without a thought to mind as to why that change was made? I know from personal experience that when you spot something incorrect with your writing, you just simply click and change it. You don’t even stop to think about why that change was made, or why it was necessary. I find these programs useful when you are writing a paper for example, but it doesn’t help your writing, or reading or even comprehension improve. It simply does the work for you, so that you will sound “smarter” and look like you know good grammar, spelling, or paragraph structure. I don’t think I know many individuals who use the tools on Microsoft word and stop to think why the change was made. They simply continue on with their writing. This may be a big reason why those who can’t fill out a simple form are so high. They are constantly using the electronic spell or grammar checker along with the paragraph structure feature instead of finding how to fix their errors and understanding why they should be fixed.

We don’t just use electronics simply for writing a paper either. We use it when we read a book as well. Come across something you don’t understand? Start up that computer and Google a summary. You could take some time to think about what you read and try understanding it, and maybe gain some knowledge points. Improve your comprehension, your reading skills or even recognize some writing styles if you actually think about what’s in the book you are reading. But instead, we put down the book, and just look up a summary just because we find a lot easier. We don’t want to “waste our time” struggling to figure things out that we could look up on the computer. This isn’t healthy for our knowledgeable minds however.

I know a specific individual who won’t read any article or book I hand them because they know they won’t understand it and are ashamed of that lack of knowledge. But once I leave the room, they grab that book or article and look up a summary for it, to avoid reading and actually thinking about the contents in the book. Same thing when it comes to writing. They aren’t the best writer in the world, and they will do spell check, grammar check, and use those subroutines in almost every paragraph. They don’t want to attempt to actually write themselves, they would rather have a lot of the work done by the computer to avoid doing any thinking and actually gaining knowledge.

If we continue to rely on electronic programs to fix our writing or help us understand our reading, the levels of good scholarly readers could drop even more, and those who can’t understand their reading enough to fill out a form will skyrocket. We could end up coming up with even more developed programs that will require little or no thinking throughout the entire writing process. We could end up coming up with a tool that will write what needs to be written without doing anything. Punch in the main and supporting ideas you would like to be included and the computer will generate the entire piece of writing for you. We will use these tools more often than ever. Then, we will have some serious issues on our hands. We will stop sending our kids to school to learn to read and write, because we will find it unnecessary for a computer can do all the work for them. It could get to the point where you just talk to the computer. Tell the computer what you want to write about and it will be written. Then there will be no use of knowing how to read or write. This would become very bad, very fast. We need to not be so electronically reliant. Rely on our own brains most of the time instead of a computer’s mind. If even college graduates are having problems understanding what they have read to an extent where filling out a form is a struggle, than obviously we need to change some things. Shut off that computer and pick up a book, or a pen and paper even and start using our brains. Or better yet, get rid of the computer completely for that type of use. Think more, and don’t rely on electronic resources as much as we do at this moment in time.