Is reading this a waste of time? Probably

I read this article in yesterday's NY Times, Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? It raised numerous questions that I have pondered myself. My middle two, now teens, read books extensively, but the oldest and the youngest read little. Or at least not books. The oldest reads sports and news online and magazines. I keep hoping the youngest will find something he enjoys reading but it hasn't happened yet.

I have not read "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" in the July/August edition of Atlantic Monthly. I read on the blogs that the author blames internet reading for our shortened attention span but the article is too long and I really don't have time with all the blogs and email I need to read daily. You know how it is.

One of the issues that the NY Times article addressed was, what else, the need to test school children in computer and Internet literacy. This comment caught my eye,

"There's no reason to make them discover how to be highly competent if we can teach them."

Let's rob those kids of the opportunity to find an interest and work at their own pace, in their own manner and time, to develop their skills. No, no. We must intervene and take over their learning. They won't do it right. And we must test to prove how well we are doing.

When the public schools get into teaching the internet and testing internet competency, will performance go down? PRM