What is the worth of words?
What do you guys think of this article? Alarmist? Any truth to it? I feel like the opposite (kind of) could be true -- that people will need to assimilate many small pieces of info and construct a larger (but quickly digestable) meaning from said info. (be patient. the page can be slow to load.) -- m
posted by biblio @ 10:52 AM
3 Comments:
Wow - that is a truly scary article. Was the author being facetious? Do they expect that journalists, authors, etc will be unemployed in less than 25 years? If we don't teach children to read, when will politicians and others deemed worthy of this skill be taught? As adults? Isn't that the most difficult time to learn? Or will just the privileged elite be taught to read and the masses will left to trust what they say?
Thanks for sharing this - I can't believe this is a conversation happening in America!!
-jen
When we are in our 90's sitting in our rocking chairs re-reading Haruki Murakami, we are going to be considered old, old school. Reading will be like going to bingo. Only old ladies will still do it. We will be boring younsters with stories about card catalogs, used books stores and delivering newspapers.
At first I felt like Jen when I read this, but the more that I think about it, I feel the author may be right. It's only been recent that most adults read for pleasure. American Literature was not taught at the college level until the 1950's. That's just a blip in human history. It's a real possibility that fewer and fewer will grow into adults that join book clubs or just read for fun. I think all kids will be taught to read at a functional level, but only a few will go on to study literature all of us have done. (Wendy will still be teaching, but she will be teaching baking, not English.) Studying literature will be like playing polo or buying fine art. Only the people with time and money will take part.
Why I am applying to all these publishing jobs?
Beth
When we are in our 90's sitting in our rocking chairs re-reading Haruki Murakami, we are going to be considered old, old school. Reading will be like going to bingo. Only old ladies will still do it. We will be boring younsters with stories about card catalogs, used books stores and delivering newspapers.
At first I felt like Jen when I read this, but the more that I think about it, I feel the author may be right. It's only been recent that most adults read for pleasure. American Literature was not taught at the college level until the 1950's. That's just a blip in human history. It's a real possibility that fewer and fewer will grow into adults that join book clubs or just read for fun. I think all kids will be taught to read at a functional level, but only a few will go on to study literature all of us have done. (Wendy will still be teaching, but she will be teaching baking, not English.) Studying literature will be like playing polo or buying fine art. Only the people with time and money will take part.
Why I am applying to all these publishing jobs?
Beth
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