Reading really is fundamental

The thought of cracking open another book when summer finally comes is a little less than appealing, but it's important to remember how beneficial, maybe even enjoyable, good literature can be.

Whether it is a poem, play, short story, news story or 1,000-page novel, the act of reading written works has countless benefits. Constantly choosing to sit in front of a TV, going to see a movie or stalking people on Facebook, however, deprives the mind and, even more so,  the imagination.

The author C.S. Lewis once said, "Reason is the natural of truth, but imagination is the organ of meaning."

Reading a good book is essentially an exercise for the right side of your brain. Getting lost in the words and envisioning the scenery, characters and actions the author is describing in your mind does much more for your imagination and creative abilities than infinite hours of watching TV ever will.

Aside from bringing out your artistic side, reading also improves your vocabulary, writing and comprehension skills.

The student who is a frequent reader is able to write with much more clarity and style, not to mention grammatical accuracy, than the one who never takes the time to sit in silence and let words become stories and thoughts.

Even if you're not a journalism, English or creative writing major, the ability to write well is a requirement in college and a great advantage when applying for a job.

At the very least, general education courses such as ENC 1101 and 1102 force you to produce a good-sized paper or two. And with more courses being offered online, students are constantly writing discussion postings that reveal their comprehension of specific material.

When it's time to demonstrate all that knowledge at a job or internship, a cover letter and resume that look like they were written by a 10-year-old aren't going to get you the position. They don't have to be Shakespearean quality, but they certainly cannot be rife with spelling and grammar mistakes.

In a 2006 survey by the Conference Board, a non-profit organization that distributes information to business leaders, nearly 90 percent of employers said reading comprehension is very important for workers with bachelor's degrees.

In addition, people who score higher on reading tests usually earn higher incomes, according to Department of Education statistics.

With inventions such as the Kindle, a handheld electronic device that can store up to 1,500 books, magazines or newspapers, and iTunes audio books, or Web sites such as ebooks.com and fanfiction.net, technology only encourages reading.

The "I just don't like to read" excuse that often comes up when trying to carry on an intelligent conversation about literature is such a cop-out.

Even if reading an entire novel isn't your thing, the Internet provides articles and blogs.

Those who see novels as one-way streets that don't give them a say in the outcome or the ability to express their opinion, can interact with other readers, change plots and post their thoughts for the world to see on the Web.

It doesn't matter if the words are on pages bound-up in books or on a screen. What matters is that we have enough of a desire to learn, create and imagine to be reading them.

The National Endowment for the Arts released a report called, "Reading at Risk," in 2004, which states that "fewer than half of Americans over 18 read novels, short stories, plays or poetry."

A high school English teacher isn't requiring us to read To Kill a Mockingbird, so we don't read?

College courses force us to read and study boring textbooks, so we are no longer motivated to walk into Barnes and Noble and take a gander at the new books on the shelf?

Going to college shouldn't be about getting a piece of paper and getting out. It's a time to learn, question and acquire knowledge that you will you use the rest of your life.