Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?

[EMNofSeattle]

That is odd. NO regime I know of prevented me from reading it nor my kids from reading it. Must be something in your imagination.

They don’t have to physically prevent it. Just not make it easily available while making pot and porn more available

 

[EMNofSeattle]

I completely disagree. Citizens need grounding in history, science and critical thinking if they are to be educated voters that can oversee their elected officials.

This is a theory of human nature that has been proven consistently untrue. What leftist really mean when they say this, they want people indoctrinated into leftist dogma. Most people do not want to, nor do they need to submerge themselves into reading, esoteric, literature, or enjoying art produce with government grants.

Education in literature and art is good for the soul.

Only if it’s in good literature and art.

It helps you appreciate life more.

Not really, it helps people who get paid by the government to submerge crucifixes In piss enjoy life more, not really much beyond that

 

[SNOWFLAKE]

They don’t have to physically prevent it. Just not make it easily available while making pot and porn more available

Well, now you are just being goofy. ANYONE can read the Narnia series. So you assertion that they can't is just hyperpartisan BS. I don't think you have scored ANY points suggesting ANYONE has ever suggested banning Narnia.

 

[Lycanthrope]

dont need no readin wen i can jus turn on dem thar Fox and lurn all i needs to kno.

Ok ok, snide remark apart, want to know why people, particularly kids don't read? Simple: internet, smart phones, electronic games. When was the last time you saw a kid READING outside of school?

There is a group of Gen Z kids out of New York who formed a group called the Luddites. They were disturbed by how much smartphones were taking up their time, so they swapped them out for dumb (flip) phones or severely limited the available apps on their smartphones. After a week or two of withdrawal they found themselves reading, playing instruments, roaming parks, pursuing new hobbies, and conversing with friends face to face.

So yes - technology, and the way it is designed to facilitate addiction is major factor.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Well the Narnia series is supposed to explain Christianity for children and hence the regime doesn’t want kids reading it.

Stupid post is stupid.

 

[SNOWFLAKE]

Stupid post is stupid.

You expect better from him?

 

[Lycanthrope]

You expect better from him?

No, but usually the trolling delivers a baseline level of amusing.

 

[Gaius46]

This is a theory of human nature that has been proven consistently untrue. What leftist really mean when they say this, they want people indoctrinated into leftist dogma. Most people do not want to, nor do they need to submerge themselves into reading, esoteric, literature, or enjoying art produce with government grants.

Only if it’s in good literature and art.

Not really, it helps people who get paid by the government to submerge crucifixes In piss enjoy life more, not really much beyond that

I'm not a leftist. Try again.

On the other hand you're advocating that people stay stupid. Perhaps do they are more easily controlled.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

I'm not a leftist. Try again.

Then don’t adopt leftist talking points

On the other hand you're advocating that people stay stupid.

Intelligence has nothing to do with what you read, intelligence is a function of problem solving. I guess in your world a plumber who comes home to his family is dumb if he doesn’t waste time reading philosophy

Perhaps do they are more easily controlled.

 

[Gaius46]

Then don’t adopt leftist talking points

Intelligence has nothing to do with what you read, intelligence is a function of problem solving. I guess in your world a plumber who comes home to his family is dumb if he doesn’t waste time reading philosophy

I won't deny that there are some problems in some schools going too far with what you would call leftist dogma but to indict education generally because of that is nonsense.

Somewhere in this or another thread I defined intelligence pretty much the way you do so I agree with you. But that isn't the point of reading. Going back to Ancient Rome and Greece reading was the foundation of all education because it gives you access to information and ideas. You know those things you need to be able to form your own ideas about how the world should work, judge your leaders and yes problem solve.

I don't think your plumber is dumb and I don't think he needs to read philosophy, though it probably wouldn't hurt him to read a little about it and realize that the world is full of ideas that are different from his own. But what I think he needs to do is read. Interestingly I read something recently where researchers found that people who read fiction are seem less likely to develop Alzheimer's. They think that because you have hold all sorts of information in your head - characterizations, plot points etc - to follow the story that that helps in keeping the brain from degenerating. So read a book an maybe you'll keep your wits longer.

As to my final point sorry but I've seen more than enough people, on both sides of the political spectrum, who've never learned to critically analyze what they see/hear/read who then fall for the most transparent bullshit.

 

[JBG]

Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?​

I decided to respond to the OP topic heading rather than the post. My supposition is that it takes time, and concentrated time. Depending on the length of the book, eight to twenty hours. Responding to a DP or Twitter post takes seconds or minutes. Reading generally does not give instant gratification. There are nuggets in a good or great book that do, but those do not leap out until you get to them.

As I have started reading more, I have tackled large books that have sat on my shelf for untold periods. An example is Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer. I'm not sure if I inherited it from my parents or I bought it at a used book sale, but it had to have been on my shelf for more than eight years. Another example is Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. I bought that at Borders' GOB sale, and I didn't read it for three years. These books are necessary to read, but like diving off a high diving board one takes his or her time.

 

[Gaius46]

I decided to respond to the OP topic heading rather than the post. My supposition is that it takes time, and concentrated time. Depending on the length of the book, eight to twenty hours. Responding to a DP or Twitter post takes seconds or minutes. Reading generally does not give instant gratification. There are nuggets in a good or great book that do, but those do not leap out until you get to them.

As I have started reading more, I have tackled large books that have sat on my shelf for untold periods. An example is Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer. I'm not sure if I inherited it from my parents or I bought it at a used book sale, but it had to have been on my shelf for more than eight years. Another example is Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. I bought that at Borders' GOB sale, and I didn't read it for three years. These books are necessary to read, but like diving off a high diving board one takes his or her time.

I read Inside the Third Reich and Rise and Fall of the Third Reich back to back some years ago. They were in my Father in Law's library and we found them as we cleaned out his house after my mother in law died (he'd been dead for 30 years by then). He was WWII combat vet but was in the Pacific.

Fascinating reads. Rise and Fall is probably the most complete documentary record of a regime because it fell apart so fast.

 

[Gaius46]

Appropos to this discussion. Essay in yesterday's NY Times on our relationship with reading.

Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?

Book bans, chatbots, pedagogical warfare: What it means to read has become a minefield.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Rexedgar]

Appropos to this discussion. Essay in yesterday's NY Times on our relationship with reading.

Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?

Book bans, chatbots, pedagogical warfare: What it means to read has become a minefield.

www.nytimes.com

I’m confused, isn’t the Times piece linked in the OP?

 

[Rexedgar]

Yes, incorporated. English is rich because of borrowings, but this does create spelling problems.

And sometimes pronunciation problems too. My favorite example: sherbet vs sorbet. (<shrieking> It's "sherbet"--"bet"!--not "bert"!!!)
Why the variance in pronunciation? "Sherbet" descends from the Persian while "sorbet" (pronounced "sor-bay") is French.

<SCREAMING> It's "sherBET," not "sherBERT." Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!

You know how English is always evolving?

I’ve always used the second “r” in sherbet. An unofficial survey agreed with my spelling/pronunciation, so I had to look it up.

The Scoop on Sherbet vs. Sherbert

They taste the same

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[nota bene]

You know how English is always evolving?

I’ve always used the second “r” in sherbet. An unofficial survey agreed with my spelling/pronunciation, so I had to look it up.

The Scoop on Sherbet vs. Sherbert

They taste the same

www.merriam-webster.com

I do know how language evolves--for example, "knave" and "wench" used not to have negative connotations. However, the second "r" in "sherbet" has always been incorrect.

Why Do We All Pronounce "Sherbet" As "Sherbert"?

Say the word “sherbet” out loud. You didn’t say “sher-bet,” did you? Despite the fact that any dictionary and your grandmother will tell you that’s how you pronounce it, you, me, and everyone we know calls the stuff “sherbert.” But why? First, some background on the word, courtesy of Merriam...

www.consumerreports.org

 

[Gaius46]

I’m confused, isn’t the Times piece linked in the OP?

It is so I guess I'm the confused one. Saw it when I read the Times yesterday and didn't realize it had been out already several days. And I clearly didn't read the OP link.

 

[ALiberalModerate]

The problem is reading isn't modeled anymore. Parents are on phones or computers, and kids aren't seeing them sit down and enjoy books, newspapers or magazines. Without positive modeling, reading becomes a chore, not something to be enjoyed.

I think it's more genetic than that. For example, I enjoy reading, my brother does not. There wasn't any difference in how we were raised or educated. There is a fair amount of research now that kids and adults that enjoy reading have a genetic predisposition to enjoy reading.

 

[ALiberalModerate]

High literature and the humanities have always been only for a small, elite portion of the population anyway. For the rest of the population, it has just been pearls before swine.

"High literature" isn't just old dusty books on high shelves. Every year contemporary "high literature" is published. For example, look at most of the Cormac McCarthy books. Another good example would be Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible.

 

[spud_meister]

I think it's more genetic than that. For example, I enjoy reading, my brother does not. There wasn't any difference in how we were raised or educated. There is a fair amount of research now that kids and adults that enjoy reading have a genetic predisposition to enjoy reading.

That doesn't explain variation in reading levels over time.

 

[JBG]

That doesn't explain variation in reading levels over time.

That results from other commitments that are highly variable.

 

[mrjurrs]

Book bans, chatbots, pedagogical warfare: What it means to read has become a minefield.

But maybe the real problem is that children aren’t being taught to read at all. As test scores have slumped — a trend exacerbated by the disruptions of Covid — a long-smoldering conflict over teaching methods has flared anew. Parents, teachers and administrators have rebelled against widely used progressive approaches and demanded more emphasis on phonics. In May, David Banks, the chancellor of New York City’s public schools, for many years a stronghold of “whole language” instruction, announced a sharp pivot toward phonics, a major victory for the “science of reading” movement and a blow to devotees of entrenched “balanced literacy” methods.

The reading crisis reverberates at the higher reaches of the educational system too. As corporate management models and zealous state legislatures refashion the academy into a gated outpost of the gig economy, the humanities have lost their luster for undergraduates. According to reports in The New Yorker and elsewhere, fewer and fewer students are majoring in English, and many of those who do (along with their teachers) have turned away from canonical works of literature toward contemporary writing and pop culture. Is anyone reading “Paradise Lost” anymore? Are you?

Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?

Book bans, chatbots, pedagogical warfare: What it means to read has become a minefield.

www.nytimes.com

This bothers me everyday. I Think about declining reading scores everyday.

Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.
Carl Sagan

"To give to every citizen the information he needs...to understand his duties to his neighbors and country...to know his rights..."​

- Thomas Jefferson, 1818​

I didn't realize until I became a second career teacher that not everyone likes to read. As a matter of fact, some percentage of students look at reading as a punishment. Mostly boys, I believe this is related to 'forcing' boys into reading before they are developmentally ready for it. We know that girls access reading skills earlier than boys. That means that when they hit the classroom, girls are already ahead of them, and that may dampen their willingness to strive for improvement.

 

[Glitch]

This bothers me everyday. I Think about declining reading scores everyday.

What unmitigated bullshit. You vote for the very same people who destroyed public education, and then claim to be bothered by declining reading scores. The same declining reading score that you repeatedly vote to occur.

The US always ranked into the top ten in education among the industrialized nations - until Democrats illegally created the Department of Education in 1980. Since 1980 the US has steadily declined in science, mathematics, and reading. Today, thanks entirely to the Democratic Party, the US does not even rank in the top 20 industrialized nations in either science or mathematics.

The state of public education in the US is very much of your own making. Every Democrat you vote for creates dozens of illiterate children.

 

[Loulit01]

What unmitigated bullshit. You vote for the very same people who destroyed public education, and then claim to be bothered by declining reading scores. The same declining reading score that you repeatedly vote to occur.

The US always ranked into the top ten in education among the industrialized nations - until Democrats illegally created the Department of Education in 1980. Since 1980 the US has steadily declined in science, mathematics, and reading. Today, thanks entirely to the Democratic Party, the US does not even rank in the top 20 industrialized nations in either science or mathematics.

The state of public education in the US is very much of your own making. Every Democrat you vote for creates dozens of illiterate children.

Your first sentence describes your post perfectly.

Check reading scores in red states and blue states. Was any research involved in your post? Any at all? I'm amazed at how much nonsense people believe without verification.

Check reading scores in red states and blue states. Who's screwing up education?

 

[Glitch]

Your first sentence describes your post perfectly.

Check reading scores in red states and blue states. Was any research involved in your post? Any at all? I'm amazed at how much nonsense people believe without verification.

Check reading scores in red states and blue states. Who's screwing up education?

I'm looking at education nation-wide, and from 1980 until 2023 the only course the US has taken in regard to education is downward. Thanks entirely to the illegal creation of the Department of Education by the Democratic Party. You want Americans to be illiterate, and especially with regard to civics. The less Americans know, the less likely they will be able to interfere with your leftist genocidal plans. So stop pretending otherwise, it only further demonstrates your hypocrisy.