The Encouragement of Reading

O OF T H E I M P O R T A N T AIMS o f a College education should be to make lifetime readers of our students. With the exception of the daily newspaper and a magazine or two, many college students stop reading after graduation. If college students have not been stimulated to read to satisfy intellectual curiosity, or if they have no intellectual curiosity, but have read only that which was assigned, it is quite unlikely that much reading will be done during the remainder of their lives. If this be true they will soon cease to be educated people, as a large percentage of the information gained in college is soon forgotten. It is most likely that a person who was well educated in 1951 is not well educated in 1961 if he has done little reading during the decade. It is doubtful if one can be an effective, intelligent person able to perform his functions as a citizen if he does not keep abreast of the turn of events. Following are some suggestions of how the reading of college students can be fostered. Many of these ideas have been supplied by librarians in various parts of the country.