Does the younger generation read books?

[Bandit]

Do you think most of the younger generation gets most information from TV? I have a hunch that very few read much any more. I see quite often a youngster say quite boastfully that they don't read. Has th e younger generation forsaken reading for the easy fix of TV? I think this is a major problem because most of what is on TV is nothing but Propaganda. Is this what we have to deal with in recruiting youngsters to our cause. We get very little TV time so all they hear is right-wing propaganda and refuse to read where the facts are spelled out clearly. Maybe the internet will help solve this problem a little bit anyway. Is this a fixable problem?

[Drifter]

1. Sure ...

if the power goes out.

Thursday night my family and I were in the (candle lit) living room. the 14 yr old was complaining non-stop about how boring it is without electricity (specifically the TV and computer). My suggestion was for her to read a book, which she eventually did.

Cheers
Drifter

[Bandit]

6. Was that her first book or do the schools still require book reports?

:shrug: You make my point.

[goobergunch]

2. I do...

I read the NYT every morning and about ten political websites every day. As for books, I read them when I get the chance, but I'm bogged down in a really depressing school summer reading book now. :-(

[Caution]

3. ummm...two words...Harry Potter

Teh younger generation, thanks to Harry Potter have embraced reading in a way that my generation never did (I'm 30). I was nearly always ridiculed for reading in my free time when i was younger, but now every kid reads...Every kid i talk to has read the potter books over and over again and those books got them interested in others. While waiting for the next potter book they pick up other stuff...very good thing in my opinion.

[bryant69]

4. You're forgetting Harry Potter

The great book hope.

Bryant
Check it out--> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[QC]

5. Not many, apparently.

I've been teaching college freshman and sophomore English classes since '89, and things seem to get worse with every incoming class. Few can analyze even a simple argument, like the kind in a newspaper editorial, and whenever I refer to a well-known historical event I have to pause for a mini-lecture on McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, the Great Depression, etc. before going on with the original discussion.

What is more, even here in the Bible Belt most know very little about major religious ideas. I never imagined I would have to explain original sin to a roomful of Baptists, but now I do it regularly.

This sort of thing makes it especially hard to teach literature, since a poem or story can draw upon quite a bit in the way of history, politics, religion, etc.

Having said all that, I like my students and think they are very bright. They just have little knowledge or analytical ability when they show up in college, and that's a consequence of not reading.

[Clete]

10. You are a saint.

Keep trying. Those minds need to learn how to acquire information through reading.

[QC]

17. Not a saint, but I try to do what I can.

I can't help but wonder exactly what gets done in high school, though. These kids are being cheated if they are kept cooped up for twelve years and end up with no education, as often seems to be the case.

[Avalux]

7. May be the exception

but my daughter loves to read. She couldn't wait until Harry Potter came out then read until I thought her eyes were going to bleed. Finished all 800andsomething pages in a couple of weeks. Cool thing is - she can tell it back in detail, retains it all. She'll read just about anything - really likes biographies.

[azrak]

13. All my kids read

Everything they can get their hands on. The library called and left a message, we had checked out on the 5 library cards in the house 80+ books. They read the papers, watch the news and question every statement I make politically. They read the classics, magazines, and have read all of Harry Potter and all of The Lord of the Rings. They also watch hours of TV, and have both a nintendo 64 and a playstation 2. They all make the honor roll, and both boys have learning disabilities.

[azrak]

14. MIne all read...

Everything they can get their hands on. The library called and left a message, we had checked out on the 5 library cards in the house 80+ books. They read the papers, watch the news and question every statement I make politically. They read the classics, magazines, and have read all of Harry Potter and all of The Lord of the Rings. They also watch hours of TV, and have both a nintendo 64 and a playstation 2. They all make the honor roll, and both boys have learning disabilities.

[Ein]

8. HS kids nowadays I dunthinkso

The succesors to me and my friends throne (skate around the town all day-group) are a bunch of little wingnut freeps. They all watch fox, think bill o'rielly is cool, and want to join the army. *gag*

But theres always a minority of really intelligent HS people to talk to and inform.

edit: my girlfriends brother is one of the aforementioned. I see him reading fiction from time to time, that is it. I imagine if he was going to buy a political book, it would be an O'Rielly book.

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. Sorry to say so but

most kids have the attention span of a gnat thanks to TV , fast food (to many additives, sugar etc) and lack of intellectual curiosity thanks to a broken educational system


There are exceptions to the rule of course

[DEMActivist]

11. Mine do - avidly!

Mine are 7, 13 and 15 and they ALWAYS have a book in their hands. We have to take them to the library at least once a week - even during summer.

Of course, that could be because Mom and Dad are avid readers as well.

[VermontDem2004]

12. I am 16 and read 2-3 books a week.

Right now I am reading Sexual McCarthysm by Alan Dershowitz a defense attorney for over 10 years, a graduate at Harvard Law, and a Harvard Law Professor. It's actually a quite interesting book. It talks about the unconstitutional impeachment, the obsession by Kenneth Star, and how Clinton's lawyer set him in a perjury trap.

[Syn_Dem]

15. Currently reading

A People's History of the 20th Century by Howard Zinn, Blinded by the Right, and Embracing Defeat:Post World War II Japan

Oh, and Im 15

[helleborient]

16. They still check things out at the library...

And remember, in order to use the Internet, even to use chat rooms, they have to be able to read...unlike when watching TV.

[Jonte_1979]

18. Please tell me about this "Book" thing

Is it some sort of a pre-historic gaming console?:shrug:

[Bandit]

19. Yes except it has something called letters and words in it.

No moving pictures or noises. A few people who are vewry ancient know of them.

[redeye]

20. Well, I read...

...and I'm 18 and 20 days. I get my news from the Internet, though, rather than from newspapers (although I usually check the NYT's website).

[sexybomber]

21. I'm 19 and 3/4 and I read seven books in the past seven days.

But I'm not entirely sure I'm representative of my generation...