November 24, 2007 07:28 PM
Thank you for <i>reading.</i>
Tom Scarritt in today's Birmingham (AL) News:
If you are reading this column, chances are you are more successful than the average person, more involved in your community and less likely to be in prison.
That is not because of anything I have written. It is because you have chosen to read.
A new study by the National Endowment for the Arts suggests that reading transforms lives. "Regular reading not only boosts the likelihood of an individual's academic and economic success -- facts that are not especially surprising -- but it also seems to awaken a person's social and civic sense," wrote Dana Gioia, chairman of the NEA. Read more...
And yes. Blogs count.
I read somewhere where 10% of Americans read 90% of the books.
I guess those of us who are literate and well read are an endangered species.
unfrozencaveman @ 1:
http://tinyurl.com/3yjdhg
illiterate...means that you don't read as well as not being able to.
the M.I.M.C.C.I.BP.C (military industrial congressional media-tainment insurance big-pharma complex) counts on this.
the money party has 2 factions, rep and dem. and illiterate people vote the way mom or dad did.
I'm not surprised. I've always said if you can read, you can learn anything. I'm so glad that I tossed out my television years ago. It's by far in my opinion, the biggest contributor to dumbing down America.
3 Words - My Pet Goat.
Farmer @ 5:
MTV ushered in the video era. Who needs to read when you can watch rapidly blinking and flashing lights, and ultra warp speed entertainment bites shifting to and fro wearing down the mind and it's ability to focus on anything for long periods of time.
Farmer @ 5:
I haven't had cable for years. If you are watching TV, you are watching 33% commercials. I noticed I started spending less and caring less about brands when I stopped watching TV. You definitely save a lot more than a cable bill. Money that can instead be spent on great books. Besides, I can get my TV fix on this site, which thankfully doesn't load commercials onto the videos...I also wondered how they're able to do that.
I'm kind of disappointed in the article. It didn't give any specifics or links to the actual study. Who among us didn't already know that reading is good for us?
I believe that JK Rowling had something to do with the 9 year olds reading more. Her books caught the interest of plenty of young people (and old like me, I read all of her work at 70 yrs old.).
I see the television as a very bad influence in the world. It robs people of using their own imaginations by showing their interpretations of what the stories are about and how they are perceived.
One other thing ... The movie "Golden Compass" ... anyone who sees the movie and doesn't read the trilogy will get a warped view of what it is about. That story needs to be read in the order the three books were written. It is a wonderful trilogy and I would recommend it to anyone who like a real mind grabber.
The only thing a television is good for is for watching real films.
I read subtitles on films, does that count?
I do read books, for the record. Just finished some short stories by de Sade, and Robert Hughes's Culture of Complaint.
I am now reading letters that Henry Miller wrote to Emil L (can't remember his last name). Miller is an incredible writer/artist.
unfrozencaveman @ 8:
Good job. And if you have to watch TV, watch PBS, home of American Experience, Frontline, and NOW.
OT:1-202-225-0100 DEMAND IMPEACHMENT
I don't know.. supposedly you'd have to be literate to navigate to 4chan... is
"WHER IZ WLD TINGZ AT?!"
literacy? Hrm... I have great hopes for the 1993+ generation. Sure their parent's were grungers playing doom while drinking micros and the first good coffee in decades, but hopefully some of that rebellion against fashion and the RIAA pimping crappy "hair rock/ass rock" will rub off. Besides, good beer and microbrew are excellent book companions.
Or now that I think of it, they could all go Alex P Keaton to thwart their parents. That's the usual trend I guess. I'll be pretty pissed off... but it does explain Paris.
Unless you're stuck with damn Comcast. They force you to take TV with your cable (and I don't even OWN a TV!). Jerks.
Too bad the physical ebook/ereader has not been quite solved yet. Books are still much better, but really expensive these days. Otherwise Bartleby and Gutenburg are your friends...
Shiva H Vishnu @ 11:
Thanks for the rec. I'm always on the lookout for a good read.
For a good explanation of the deleterious effects of television and how insidious it really is, read Gore's Assault On Reason. It will confirm what you knew all along.
I still keep a television, just bought a new one, in fact, but only because I do love a good movie now and then and can't stand theaters. I'm too far in the boonies to get any TV reception and refuse to pay for cable.
Shiva H Vishnu @ 11:
I agree - an utterly enchanting and moving story. The ending is so bittersweet - kudos to Philip Pullman for treating his adolescent protagonists (and readers) with so much sensitivity and respect.
Book 1: The Golden Compass
Book 2: The Subtle Knife
Book 3: The Amber Spyglass
It's also known as the His Dark Materials trilogy.
We keep a TV to watch movies. I love the old black and white movies from the 30s and 40s. And I love silent movies. But TV shows? They suck. Except for Mystery! and Masterpiece Theater. Fawlty Towers and Morse. Come to think of it, British TV is better than the crap we put out.
Jo @ 19:
British TV rules, even though sometimes it can be a bit dumbed down, especially when compared to the greats of years ago. Still, it's better than American TV.
Check out Foyle's War, a WWII series about a police inspector during wartime. Fascinating stuff.
And watch more black and white movies from the 30's and 40's. I love old Hollywood films more and more.
people like Billo consider readers to be "elitists"
He who knows how to read but chooses not to is no better off than he who cannot.
My parents encouraged me to read at a very young age. Now, my house is full of books. :D
But there's no way in hell Bush read 60+ books in one year. (Then 80 the year after that.)
As an elementary reading teacher I can tell you it's a losing battle. Kids are coming to school without any background in letters, their sounds or even knowing how to spell their own names.
I'm not talking inner city schools, I'm in a middle class district in Nassau County, NY.
Pathetic.....
The NYC schools actively disrupt a child's love for extra-curricular reading. Arghhh, the daily log is a destroyer. As homework, each child MUST read for a certain period of time nightly- including holidays - and in their best handwriting write the book title, authors name, date of the week (including spelling out the day's name), and pages written. Only books count. The reading period must be continuous. And here's the kicker--- No-one will ask the child about the book or the reading --- it's only about completing the log so the teacher can pass it in! My child seeks out books with short titles and short authors names.
What con artist got a job at the department of Ed suggesting that making reading homework would encourage children to choose it for fun.
I look forward to summer break when I can undo the damage.
GMom
That shit went on in my school too. This grand scheme died an early death due to 1) more and more children "forgetting" to bring in their logs signed by a parent 2) many parents who do not speak a lick of English (and we have a lot of them)had no clue as to what they were signing and 3) kids having no clue about the books they supposedly read when asked by their teachers about them.
This was an ill-conceived idea supported by principals who do not have a friggin idea as to what is actually going on in a classroom.
This is coming from left field, but I swear that watching television commercials produces stupid people. It's like a subliminal format of the brain, you intake all this useless info, brands, and images; which, when you fall a sleep at the end of the day, your brain ends up storing nothing but the crap that you were bombarded with. I haven't watched more than 10 minutes of television commercials in over 4 years, and I honestly feel "smarter". I can remember things in general a lot easier than I use to in the past. I still watch television shows, but they don't have commercials. ;)
Strange, I know.
Crowd pleaser, It is good to hear from a teacher on this. I appreciate that it must be difficult to be the visible edge of programs that aren't necessarily developed or chosen by you. Thank you for your commitment.
I feel that the death of bad idea should not blamed but celebrated, however. If only I believed that parents could strike on this issue by insisting that our children 'forget' that infernal log :-)
And I believe that reading is a skill that can be used with different languages. I would be pleased if all children were able to enjoy reading even if they chose to do it in a language that was not English.
the study is on-target and all current research backs it up. There are some problems with this particular piece of research in terms of protocol but its findings are accurate. If anyone is interested in further research, check out things by Richard Allington and Tim Shanahan. They are the current top researchers in reading.
A really telling statistic that was recently published is that approximately 25% of Americans have read a book in the last 12 months! Amazing.
Teaching reading is one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my life. Watching a child all of sudden realize that s/he can read gives me goosebumps even writing it right now.
One of the most important things that anyone can do for a kid is not just give them books but let them see you reading. Some studies say it may just be the most important thing you can do for a child.
If you have kids, read to them, read with them and let them see you reading... It's the greatest gift you can give them.
Quote from my fav movie INVASION!
" I read somewhere that it's possible to read too much"
" Ah yes, but if you didn't, you wouldn't know that"
Well I just finished Beowulf and The Phantom Detective, but am starting Secret Agent X and Nietzche.
bmw 528 @ 14:
I would add Bill Moyers' Journal to the list.
ysaddaden @ 31:
Haven't read Beowulf in friggin EONS...never heard of The Phantom Detective or Secret Agent X...as for Nietzche..last time I tried to read his work, it made my brain swell...mayhap I should try again, since I'm older and (ahem) wiser...
The study is right. I can't tell you how much that little goat changed my life.
Rollo Tomassi @ 6:
Bush took it further and likes to read his books upside down. That way he can envision the Australians point of view on it.
Maybe we should start a donation drive to buy G.W. a copy of My Pet Goat with words instead of just pictures.
Could there still be hope?
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