Is Anyone Out There Reading Anything?

According to Matt Burriesci's article, "NEA Report Shows that Steep Decline in American Reading Skills Will Have Significant Long-Term Negative Effects on Society," in the February 2008 issue of The Writer's Chronicle online, the answer is no....not really. Burriesci cites a recent NEA study that finds, " Americans in almost every demographic group were reading fiction, poetry, and drama at significantly lower rates than 10 or 20 years earlier."

How uncool is news for a fiction writer? Who do we expect will read all these fabulously written stories and novels? Are we writing merely for ourselves-- for our peers? The report is dismal news for all writers on the one hand, and even worse news for the democracy.

Like many who teach English, I have observed a real deterrioration of student writing-- even an increasing lack of tolerance for learning about reading and writing essays. It appears that English is in their way....they have to study and pass basic composition to get that degree. They just want it to be as less painful as possible. After all, who really cares about all those grammatical rules, rhetorical strategies, writings from people long dead before the rise of IMing, or even God forbid EMAIL. (Can anyone from the pre-WEB era really have anything important to say to me? they may ask themselves.) What could those voices possibly have to say to me a 21st Century student when they don't even know about 9/11 or MP3 players or even Brittany?

Its an impossible wall of ignorance and intolerance to mount. But writers, and educators alike, must strive to do so....the democracy is at stake. To say nothing of our own skins......

So what do you think? Should a task force be developed to promote ways of reaching into the new media and directing youth to read more....or is reading a dead or dying art?