The Act of Study
This summer I did what ever other junior dreaded doing the most. SATs. Hours of endless vocabulary and reading tedious passages made my stress level reach its limits. One day, as I was flipping through tips on how to do well on the reading comprehension sections, I saw how it constantly stated that we have to “dig” into the text, ask the question why, and “chew” on the information in order to grasp the concept of the passage. After reading this, I realized that I was making the text harder to read and understand than it already is by simply trying to remember every single fact from the reading. Following these tips however, made me have a broader perspective of the text making it more interesting and fun to read. I agree with Paulo Freice’s points in his work, “The Act of Study.” I believe that in order to accomplish this “act of study” one must find the deeper meaning behind the text, explore different viewpoints by “giving” and “receiving” ideas from the text, and by learning to have patience and commitment.
In order to grasp the true meaning of a passage, one must look past the surface (even though it may be tedious). When I was studying for the reading comprehension section of the SATs, there would always be one of those confusing long passages about a strange topic on science. Instead of fearing the long text, I did what the SAT tip told me to do. I looked carefully at each paragraph trying to understand the meaning of the text, and then I would question myself why? Asking these questions got me seeing the “reasons behind the facts.” Aristotle had once said, “The more you know, the more you know you don't know.” Aristotle is explaining that as we learn more new ideas, each new idea leads to the next and becomes an endless adventure for knowledge and makes realize that we are only scratching the surface.
It is important to understand and experience the different views in a text. In Shakespeare’s play, Othello, many new ideas are...