I used to wonder why they made me take so many English classes. It seemed as if I was caught in a vicious cycle of reading a novel, then writing a paper about the “themes” the teachers thought were important. Sadly, I didn’t understand the importance of my efforts at the time. As I have matured, I’ve come to realize that reading can open your mind to new ideas and philosophies that you can apply in your daily life to increase your likelihood of success in life.

Sure, this is the same baloney your English teachers have been pumping you full of for years, but take it from a bipartisan math guy — it’s true. Take for instance the novel “Siddhartha,” a book that I read in twelfth grade. For those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure, it’s about this spiritual prodigy Siddhartha. Despite having such strong spirituality, he feels empty inside and goes on a bunch of escapades. He becomes rich and indulges in worldly possessions and learns the ways of women from a high-profile prostitute. Not to spoil the ending, but through doing bad things and seeing the folly of his ways, he reaches a higher level of enlightenment than would have been possible otherwise.

At first I thought the whole concept of doing bad things to be good sounded pretty fishy, and I simply attributed it to the fact that the author, Hermann Hesse, spent a lot of time in loony bins. I have recently come to find that this idea can greatly advance your political career, and I never would have known about it if it weren’t for books.

Take, for instance, good old Bill Clinton. I used to think that all of those sex scandals were a result of delusions of power and an overzealous libido. I should have known better. Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar, so I’m sure he’s read a lot more books than I have, including “Siddhartha.” Clinton’s alleged infidelity was intended to strengthen his marital bond and to achieve a greater understanding of the deteriorating family structure that plagues the United States.

Clinton is not the only one to have used this knowledge. One only has to go across town to find another example. Marion Barry, the mayor of Washington D.C., is a man devoted to his town. Mr. Barry, as I’m sure you’ve all heard, was caught in a sting operation with a hooker and cocaine. At the time I was disgusted by this incident in our nation’s capitol, but now I am much wiser. Now I know that Barry was simply hard at work for his constituents. Without firsthand knowledge of the problems that face D.C. youths, how could he make effective plans to resolve them?

Fortunately for Barry and the community, D.C. area schools must have taught “Siddhartha.” With this insight, the public knew to reelect Barry shortly after he got out of prison, so he could get to work instituting his newfound knowledge.

The same cannot be said for the public schools in Louisiana. A few years back David Duke ran for governor and lost by a relatively small margin. Apparently, he was so dedicated to learning about the evils of racism, that he was Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. That’s what I call dedication. If only more people would have had a stronger literary background, a true servant of the public could have been elected. We’ll never know what might have been.

Even with all of the books I’ve read, there are still some people who are just on a higher intellectual plane than I. Take, for instance, Ted Kennedy. I’ve often wondered what you’d learn from getting a young woman drunk, and then driving her off a bridge. Whatever it is, I’m sure it must be pretty important, because Kennedy has been a senator for a pretty long time.

It’s quite amazing to think that without exposure to new ideas like this one, I would have gone through life thinking that a lot of politicians were scum-sucking, bottom-dwelling, invertebrates. I would have never known that they really cared.

Reading shouldn’t be considered a chore, but rather an opportunity to broaden one’s horizons. It is necessary that our schools continue to provide these opportunities so that every person has the ability to see through the garbage, and pick out the issues.

While literature is an excellent tool for learning about life, it should be taken with a bit of caution. Some people misinterpret literature, pulling out the wrong ideas or even manipulating what is written to justify their own preconceived notions and agendas.

Such people alone have little effect, but when they get together and vote, the outcome can be concerning and even scary.

It makes me nervous to think about misguided people like that wandering around and passing on their goofy ideas.

At any rate, keep an eye out for the weirdos and keep reading. Who knows what you might learn.

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Erik Hoversten is a junior in math from Eagan, Minn.