Reading more but we’re worse readers?

Monday, April 26, 2010

Americans read more now than they did in 1980. A lot more, according to a University of California study. Why? More than ever, we are surrounded by printed words. We read text messages. We read web pages. We read instructions and information on computer games. If we’re reading more, why is literacy dropping?

One obvious answer is that even if we’re getting back to basics in school, kids read less and less outside of school. Think of all of the new technologies that compete for their time: they have ipods, video games, text messaging, instant messaging, cell phones. 

But practice in reading lightweight material won’t improve your reading much. Reading content-rich material will. Thus, it’s not surprising that we’re reading more yet reading scores are stagnant.

But who has time for that? Don’t we owe it to our kids to make that time?

 

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