Officials need to read in order to lead_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Officials need to read in order to lead

A recent survey on government officials' "reading habits" found that engagement in work and social functions leaves them little time to read.

The survey, designed by China Books Business Journal and Outlook Oriental Weekly, investigated 100 leading officials from five randomly chosen provinces across the country. The officials all acknowledged the importance of reading but 87 percent blamed "busy work" and "too many social engagements" for encroaching on their time for reading.

A "leading official" is usually a decision-maker for governance at a certain level. Correct decisions stem from correct judgment, which, in turn, depends on the official's knowledge of the matter to be decided. Besides drawing from practical experience, one's knowledge comes primarily from reading. Without adequate reading, no officials are really qualified to fulfill their duty.

For instance, local leaders have a final say in deciding whether a dam should be built. They need not to be geologists or hydrologists but should have some elementary knowledge to understand the feasibility reports submitted by professionals on a locality's geological and hydrologic conditions.

That is not a groundless supposition. In the 1970s, I was a teacher in a rural commune. In 1974, the commune leader decided to build a dam across a river in a valley. He chose the site at the place where the valley was the narrowest because it would "need the minimum amount of earth work". The decision was made in haste and the dam was built in several months.