Reading is not just a skill or a hobby: it is a power that molds the brain, improves intelligence, refines thought and expands understanding.
It is also an evolutionary, cultural and political tool. Countries that bet on a reading citizenship invest in sustainable development, social equity and innovation.
Although the human being has more than 200,000 years of history, the great cognitive revolution occurred just 5,000 years ago, when he carved the alphabet in his brain. Since then, reading modified the neuronal structure and made us thinking beings, capable of projecting the future. The invention of the printing press in 1455 by Gutenberg amplified that power: it allowed mass access to knowledge and was the foundation of modern democracy.
The brain is not born knowing how to read; It must be trained. But when it is, it transforms:
- Previous temporal lobe: integrates visual, auditory and motor signals; For example, reading “tricycle” activates the image, sound of the chain and the sensation of pedaling.
- Heschl circumvolution: Lost the primary auditory cortex. Its thickness correlates with better reading skills.
- Myelin: Frequent readers have more myelin in the auditory cortex, which speeds up neuronal transmission and allows to discriminate precisely sounds.
Reading creates new connections, improves understanding, strengthens memory and trains abstract thinking. It is a cerebral gym.
The continuous practice of reading generates physical changes. Studies with people who learned a new language show a thickening of language areas. Something similar happens with those who become frequent readers. Neuroplasticity allows the brain to adapt and improve with reading. This not only reflects mental development: It produces it.
Reading is not reduced to looking at letters. It should be taught how the piano is taught: with structure, technique and practice. However, in many educational systems essential practices such as dictation, correction or sustained reading were abandoned. Teaching to read by the phonological method (grapheme-phonema) allows us to understand how letters become sounds. This phonological awareness is the basis of reading learning.
In countries or states that improved their educational policies (such as Mississippi), clear objectives were established: that children read at least 40 words per minute at the end of first grade. Fluency and understanding tests are carried out to intervene in time. On the other hand, in countries like Argentina, students usually reach sixth grade without reading fluently.
Many children read out loud or with a low voice, but hearing themselves. This imposes a barrier: the voice does not exceed 80 words per minute. Instead, read with the eyes – director of the view to the brain – multiplies the reading speed. Direct visual reading, without vocalization, allows us to understand faster and more efficiently.
In addition, training the visual field expands the range of words that are captured by fixation. The competent reader sees complete phrases, not syllables. Reading by units of meaning – not for isolated letters – allows a more complex, systemic and deep thought.
Paraphrasing Archimedes: “Give me a lever and move the world.” Reading is that lever. According to Pareto’s law, 20% of the shares generate 80% of the results. Improving reading – and with it, understanding – is that little big change that transforms the educational and social system.
In Finland, 50 books are read a year. In Argentina, just 2. It is not that the Finnish brain is superior: reading is state policy.
As Borges warned, the book is an extension of the imagination. However, more and more people know how to read but do not read. The image imposes its rhythm: looking is passive, reading is active. Television, like the plane, does not allow to go down. Reading, like the car, allows you to stop, think, return and reinterpret.
Sequential reading strengthens reflection; The simultaneous image promotes impulse. A country full of impulsive voters, who do not read programs or proposals, is condemned to repeat errors.
Governing is well to get it well. Reading education is not an accessory: it is the heavy industry of any nation. Teaching to read is to build brains and prepare citizens capable of deciding with criteria, innovating with vision and cooperating with empathy.
In a world that changes fast, the first technology remains the most powerful. Reading is priceless, but it has incalculable value. Investing in it is investing in the future.
