The National Endowment of the Arts report “To Read or Not to Read,” mentioned in RA Run Down was released this morning. The 100 page report is here, and an interesting New York Times article here. According to the Times, some experts are beginning to question the gloom and doom reports from Dan Gioia and the NEA. Any reading experts out there who would like to take a shot at this topic?
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I really think NEA is out of touch. I see teens reading all the time and they are even willing (some of them anyway) to write up what they read. Check it out at http://www.genrefluent.com/teentalk.htm
Some years ago I went to some kind of national conference on adolescent literacy in Baltimore. It was sponsored by the NEA and several governmental agencies. I was absolutely appalled that the experts presenting the conference didn’t mention any books at all. They talked about packaged curriculum products. No wonder they are seeing a decline in reading. Who would want to read packets when there are so many wonderful books and interesting articles available in magazines and on the net.
People become better readers by reading. If reading is enjoyable people will do it. Too often schools make reading a chore. Everything one reads for class must be dissected and torn apart. What fun is reading if one is looking for symbolism and things the writer didn’t say but was conveying in some other way. The best way to improve reading scores would be to put reader’s advisors in schools to help students find the books, magazines, or web sites they really want to read and then giving the students time for sustained silent reading without testing them on what they read.
Sorry for the rant but this is a hot button for me.