What is happening? What has happened to our education system? College graduates who can't read and comprehend? Even one of my own children, a college graduate, declared last night at a family dinner, "I don't read".
My children were read to from the very beginning of their lives and encouraged to read thereafter. They were always showered with children's books and our home had more meaningful books than a small school library, yet to this day each of my children are limited readers. No time for it I would guess.
Video games and movies seem to be a curse. They not only blur the lines of reality they sometimes shatter them. They rob our children of their imagination. In stead of creating their own imaginary world they rely on someone else to create it for them. They live vicariously and act out violence towards others through games meant to entertain by blowing others away with blasts from weapons and by unleashing bombs and monsters.
Whatever the reasons for this decline in reading skills reported below, the one thing that is capable of robbing us of our freedom, of our democracy, of our country's economic and world status and insure destruction of the earth - it is this - the dumbing down of our children. Educated people demand freedom and self-government. Uneducated people fall victim to dictators and those that eagerly profit from the destruction of earth's environment - the life-support system that maintains our lives.
At this point in the advancement of technology there is no quick way to become educated, no magic pill, no electronic implant. God forbid there ever comes a time when people can be forcefully programmed in that way.
The art of concentration, contemplation, reasoning and the dissemination of ideas and knowledge is still best served by reading books. Those who profit from taking advantage of poorly educated people no longer need to burn books - they have successfully replaced them with an unending supply of drivel and dross.
Gary
College graduates' reading skills drop
An adult literacy assessment has shown an alarming trend: the reading proficiency of college graduates is declining, and experts don't know why.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/13491148.htm
