A new study from the National Endowment for Arts shows that literary reading among adults is declining and that reading, in general, among children and young adults is declining even more rapidly. After a child reaches middle school the amount of reading that they do for pleasure begins to decrease.
This is worrisome not only from the perspective of missing out on one of life’s greatest pleasures, but also for the future of conducting American democracy. It’s no accident that a majority of prison inmates in America are illiterate. We already have a government by television sound bites that will only fall deeper into trite name-calling rather conduct than true debate – as we grow precipitously stupider.
The upside? Some claim that we no longer need the kind of nuanced understanding of character, situation, and argument that only books can give us. All we have to do is turn on the computer/tv/radio and we are bombarded with information. In contrast, when you read you have to question, reread, look up a word or phrase, ask for help with a concept. It might be argued that Americans can communicate about their favorite sitcom, chat on myspace, and surf the internet so what is the problem?
Advancements in media and communication technologies seem to be making us intellectually simpler. Whomever the nominees of the two major parties will be in the upcoming election, I can assure you that we will not be witnessing Lincoln-Douglas level oratory or debate of prominent issues. Aren’t we supposed to be smarter now than we were in 1858? Knowledge is cyclical, as the Romans lost much of what they had accumulated with the onslaught of the dark ages, we can lose it as well.
Maybe all of this is outdated, and we should just raise kids to endlessly text each other all day. Only time will tell…
http://www.nea.gov/news/news07/TRNR.html
http://www.nea.gov/news/news04/ReadingAtRisk.html
November 20, 2007 at 7:55 pm
as my contracts professor said, when discussing the inherent problems with the present practice of making deals over e-mail, “often, technology takes the place of true thought.”
he’s so right.
although, technology has created ways for us to learn a wider variety of things, faster. we just don’t take advantage of THOSE opportunities as much as we should.
oh, and on the same topic: you MUST look at this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/technology/18rehab.html
it’s a boot camp for computer-addicted teens in korea, sponsored by the government. need i say more? …
November 22, 2007 at 9:35 pm
this is main subject of al gore’s book “the assault on reason.” the information was nothing new to us “bay area intellectuals,” but it’s a great book for someone just starting to get involved politically. it would be a good book for a freshman level course called “Intro to Contemporary American Politics”. which has indeed been an assault on reason, unfortunately.
currently i’m reading paul krugman’s “conscience of a liberal” which is much more fascinating. krugman intends it to be the left’s equivalent of barry goldwater’s “conscience of a conservative,” and he evokes movement conservatism intentionally–because he blames the neocons specifically for destroying middle class america. he thinks we need a return to progressive, new deal-era politics. i’m not so sure, but krugman is well respected for his data and analysis as an economist, so…let’s see.