What a disturbing article.

icerose · Nov 13, 2006

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14823087/?GT1=8717

The writer of the article states:

"In 2025 it’s time to put reading into perspective for the remainder of the 21st century: it is a luxury, not a necessity!"

MajorDrums · Nov 13, 2006

Mr. Funktastic · Nov 13, 2006

Oh my.

CaroGirl · Nov 13, 2006

In my opinion, that's complete rubbish.

veinglory · Nov 13, 2006

Sounds like A-grade bollocks to me. Different people read different things for different reasons, but I am willing to bet literacy is at a pretty high level compared to any earlier period of history. Of course the tendency to leap from one specific finding to a big scary speculation has always been with us.

Scarlett_156 · Nov 13, 2006

I started to read that article, but I got bored and didn't finish it...

icerose · Nov 13, 2006

And look at world history, for the most part every civilization that has ever achieved anything has had some form of writing, every civilization that has not had writing has been back water huts and wilderness.

If we lose our ability to read because of technology, then I suspect it wouldn't take long for us to return to those living conditions. You can't replicate technology if you don't know how to do it. You can't read manuals and continue other's work once they die if you can't read their notes. And if those creators stop making notes then the technology they create will die with them. The only way to avoid that is to go back to the mass apprenticeships but by the time the world would realize how far we have slid, most of the knowledge would already be lost.

Not the future I want for my kids!

veinglory · Nov 13, 2006

Meanwhile every tiny town has a massive chain book store in the middle of it and a newspaper dispenser on every corner.

aka eraser · Nov 13, 2006

I think the death knell for reading/literacy has been sounding since the cuneiform days. Someone will write something similar every decade or so.

CaroGirl · Nov 13, 2006

We have made at least two generations of American children miserable trying to teach them a skill that only a small percentage of them really need. And we have wasted billions of dollars that might well have gone for more practical education and training.

That statement is absolutely laughable. In what way has introducing the joy of reading to children made them miserable? I listen to my son whoop with laughter at the raucous rudeness of Captain Underpants. I watch the pride in my daughter's face when she comes home from school with a chapter book for the first time (this was last week), having skipped several reading levels at once. I read Harry Potter to them and they ask the meaning of this word and that word, and see their vocabulary growing, their sense of story and plot expanding.

Every child who is not given the tools to find that kind of joy, is being deprived of a lifetime of the magic of books.

SeanDSchaffer · Nov 13, 2006

icerose said:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14823087/?GT1=8717

The writer of the article states:

"In 2025 it’s time to put reading into perspective for the remainder of the 21st century: it is a luxury, not a necessity!"

Where did the writer get that information from? Reading is not a necessity only if you don't want the general population to make intelligent choices in life.

Or if you want them to follow your personal ideas based only on blind faith in what you say.

No, reading is necessary to an intelligent population. It is an intelligent population, one that can read, that has the advantage over one that cannot.

MajorDrums · Nov 13, 2006

CaroGirl said:
We have made at least two generations of American children miserable trying to teach them a skill that only a small percentage of them really need. And we have wasted billions of dollars that might well have gone for more practical education and training.

That statement is absolutely laughable. In what way has introducing the joy of reading to children made them miserable? I listen to my son whoop with laughter at the raucous rudeness of Captain Underpants. I watch the pride in my daughter's face when she comes home from school with a chapter book for the first time (this was last week), having skipped several reading levels at once. I read Harry Potter to them and they ask the meaning of this word and that word, and see their vocabulary growing, their sense of story and plot expanding.

Every child who is not given the tools to find that kind of joy, is being deprived of a lifetime of the magic of books.

exactly. there were times where reading was my salvation. and reading just helps you THINK better, imo. how ironic he is writing a full-length article about the lack of importance of reading that he hopes people will read someday.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 13, 2006

I think the columnist was writing that tongue-in-cheek.

CaroGirl · Nov 13, 2006

Shadow_Ferret said:
I think the columnist was writing that tongue-in-cheek.

Ah. No wonder it sounded so ridiculous. Like the famine-ravaged Irish eating the babies they can't stop producing and can't feed.

ETA: So endeth my righteous indignation.

The Lady · Nov 13, 2006

Oh well his job will be gone then in any case.

On the other hand when he says only 25 % of college students can read a complex book, I wonder just who is providing the definition of complex.

Looking back on my college days, studying English, and the kind of dreary introspective despairing rubbish we were forced to read, I'd be delighted if college students were taking a stand against all that literary nonsense.

icerose · Nov 13, 2006

I do hope it was tongue in cheek and find it ironic that a writer would consider reading a nonessential part of modern life.

Also the misery, I have heard from countless people who had/have reading "deficiencies" who were taught how to read through special programs and are very grateful for having the opportunity.

Reading this article gave me pause to think about how much reading I do in a single day excluding books and well, reading is a huge part of my life. I can't imagine it not having a place in the future.

engmajor2005 · Nov 13, 2006

If this article wasn't tongue-in-cheek, then in the words of one of my old profs, this guy should be dragged out into the street and shot.

johnzakour · Nov 13, 2006

Yeah, I'm pretty certain he was using the "tongue in cheek" approach to make a point. It’s actually interesting to think how communication will be different 20 years from now. How will our society and educational systems adapt to these changes?

I’m always “discussing” with my son’s middle school teachers how strange it is to me that are teaching him to write in cursive but not to type. To me typing is now a much more practical tool to use in the future than cursive. Plus another teacher makes them bring in newspaper articles to critique and they have to be from an actual paper newspaper. Which I questioned her about, since many papers have the same content online. She said, she "wanted to make sure the kids knew how to read an actual paper." To which I almost replied, “are you going to teach them to write with hammers and chisels too.” (I didn’t say it but I was SO tempted.)

J. Weiland · Nov 13, 2006

Now I've read the article and want to remark that it is not the writer's opinion. He is merely envisioning the worst case scenario seeing that he states "Perhaps, in that not-too-distant future, we might wake up one morning to read an editorial like this".

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 13, 2006

Well, if you read his profile that man has made his living at writing. I can't imagine him advocating reading isn't important.

Rogers is also a best-selling novelist whose fiction explores the human impact of technology. His five books have been published worldwide, optioned for film and television, and chosen by the Book of the Month Club.

FergieC · Nov 13, 2006

That's a cool article. Very Orwell. Not so much tongue in cheek as a warning about where current trends could be leading of not checked. It's Sci-fi basically - what 2025 might look like.

The interesting thing is that it's not far removed from what the past was like. It used to be that only a tiny minority of a population could read and write, and the that minority had massive power over the majority. So there's a reason why those with power might wish this future to come true.

Jaycinth · Nov 13, 2006

This is interesting.
Especially since one of my bosses is pulling her daughter out of a very exclusive (and expensive) preschool program because the teachers (and school)do not advocate reading to the kids. Instead they have quiet time where the kids are supposed to put their heads down on their desks and be quiet while the teacher puts on a 'books on tape'.

I thought that was ridiculous. She's livid.

PeeDee · Nov 13, 2006

Remember to read articles like this with a Grain Of Salt.

merper · Nov 13, 2006

He makes a very good point though. Namely, written language isn't something that's been hardwired into our brains. If we find a more complex form of communication, written language will go the way of the heiroglyphics. What can replace it? Communications implants with access to massive databases like Wikipediax1000. At first, you'll still be reading pages - just in your head. Eventually the tech will evolve to the point where you're no longer reading, but the answer just appears in your head as if it were a thought. There are people who are already working on the neural-electro interfaces - sure you've seen the story of the prosthetic arm controlled as if it were real.

However, I doubt this sort of tech will be available or at least widespread in 2025.

Rolling Thunder · Nov 13, 2006

I remember, when computers started to become mainstream, the prediction was made we'd be a 'paperless' society within 5 years.

I feel safe about reading being around a long time yet.

What a disturbing article.

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