Narrative Essay on Literacy Development
Narrative Essay on Literacy Development
Proponents of literacy development have always linked certain life accomplishments to literacy skills. This may appear as generalization, but it is well known that most, if not all concepts in life, require literacy skills in order to arrive at an informed realization as well as convey the components of an idea or practice effectively. In support of such a bold statement, in this essay, I am going to narrate a story whereby my literacy skills landed me on a highly job opportunity while I was in high school. One may argue that linguistic skills are not the ultimate formula to success or completing life goals. Such a conclusion may be right, however, I would argue that every discipline and ideology requires a mastery of the literacy art in order to enlighten people into one’s ideas or explain certain important points on an occasion of a presentation.
I have always envied eloquent motivational speakers, philosophers and renowned authors such as Shakespeare for their mastery of literacy. Motivational speakers for one have unique, admirable conversational skills. Right from creating a speech to delivering it is magnificent and artistic. However, sometimes speakers do not necessarily read a written speech, but speak their minds right there, at a podium. It is nothing but magical to get a congregation of people keenly listening to what one person has to say and resonate with his/her ideas. They may, however, face criticism on many occasions since not everyone shares a similar ideology nor will everyone change their minds to follow a certain well-presented ideology. However, a clearly presented argument, putting into consideration literacy skills would give plausible results and engage an individual to your point of view. Despite these pitfalls, motivational speakers are able to converse with numerous people and make them perceive what is being spoken or written.
Philosophers on the other hand are masters of their art when it comes to presenting or arguing a certain philosophy or ideology. Practicing good literacy skills is at the core of their principles. This is essential for a particular theory to be well-articulated by their predecessors and society. The human mind is greatly captured by the choice of words a philosopher indulges in his/her writings or presentations. Likewise, great renowned authors have predominantly been a mystery yet source of freedom of writing and expression to me.
Ever since I was at grade school, missing out on debates or poetry sessions was uncalled for. My class teacher always promised that I would become a great writer in future and this gave me a sense of belonging, courage and motivation to channel all my efforts to fulfill this prophecy. I participated in debates on critical topics such as deforestation, afforestation, agriculture and the environment. While the discussion was regulated and limited to the level of students’ progress and understanding, I always went beyond these borderlines. I would decisively argue about facts that were considered out of scope of a student my level. This made me stand out from my peers.
In high school, I developed even more enthusiasm for debates, writing and reciting poems. I participated in several inter-school competitions on literacy development and prevailed. One would imagine that with all these successes in my high school years, what challenges could I have possibly encountered? Many, is the answer. I always battled with stage fright and there were certain events where I went totally numb. In one event, which had approximately 3 000 people including judges, I froze; words seemed to be held at bay by a very malicious demon. I started gazing over the crowd and I could see many terrifying eyes looking at me with such focus that startled me to my teeth. I got booed off the stage and this deeply affected me psychologically as well as emotionally.
It took several months for me to get back out there. Just when I had gathered enough strength to resume, I was included in an event that was going to take place at a prestigious university. This seemed unlikely since we had always done competitions on our divisional level. This required us to compete with university students on a rather tough topic of sociology. Note that I had not done any practice on debating on sociology aspects, although I had read several books on sociology and found it quite interesting. I acknowledged the authors of the books I read and wondered, where could they be utilizing such theories and arriving at their conclusions. This gave me restless nights and so I decided to go deep in research on sociology and its prospects. The choice of sentences incorporated by these authors in their ideologies patronized and motivated me. Never in time had I debated over sociology in my life, but this would be my first, and I had to do a damn great job, as I had a feeling that this would be a major step in my career.
The audience comprised of renowned dignitaries; politicians, philosophers, sociologists, authors and many other important scholars. The adjudicator team comprised of extreme-learned judges who had accomplished every goal in their lives, or so I thought. As it was a big event inclusive of many participants, it had several stages and took a whole day. We were grouped into teams of about 15, both high schools and universities. My group went on to the semi-finals of the competition. At this stage, I was not aware that a specific group of renowned lecturers and philosophers from Harvard University had been taking keen interest in me. I debated as eloquent and pragmatic as I could. Unfortunately, my team got eliminated at the semi-finals, however, this was still a big win for us since we were the only high school team since the quarter finals began. The competition ended and the awarding ceremony commenced. I was shocked to hear my name being called out on the loud speakers. “Yes, that is my name and it is not by accident”, I thought. I was called out to receive an award among a few of my school colleagues.
After the ceremony concluded, I was invited to dinner by the folks from Harvard University. My class teacher accompanied me to the restaurant where the meeting was set. They presented the aim of the meeting and spoke of my invite to Harvard University upon my completion of high school tenure. This unbelievable news came with an invite to work at a government institution where I would be one of the team that writes articles on the government’s website, while I continued with my college studies. My literacy skills had handed this great opportunity at my feet and it was up to me to grab a hold of it.
I graduated in high school with an A plus grades. I was privileged to study and work with one of the most influential people in the world. This was a break for me and subsequently, the prime of my career.
This narrative evidently argues about the benefits of literacy development as a gateway to major life accomplishments. However, literacy skills have to be collaborated with other disciplines in order to achieve a desired academic goal in life.