Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Unto The Breach.

Join us! http://s6.zetaboards.com/Unto_The_Breach/register/

If you are already a member log in below


Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Literature's Influence Disappearing?
Topic Started: Nov 21 2004, 09:45 AM (64 Views)
colo_crawdad
No Avatar
Knight of the Realm
The following article from this morning's Denver Post certainly deserves some contemplation and discussion. The following is an excerpt.

Quote:
 
From 1982 to 2002, literary reading dropped 10 percentage points among adult Americans, and overall book reading fell 4 points, according to the report. For the first time in recent history, less than half the population reads literature, and barely half reads books of any kind. For young adults, the trend is pronounced - a 17-point slide that took them from one of the most active reader groups to one of the least active.

The educational consequences for literary culture are obvious. A declining readership means that one of the profound embodiments of the human condition - literary expression - is disappearing from the lives of ordinary citizens. The legacy of Homer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Dickinson, Ellison et al. has no role in youth culture. How sharp the contrast with figures from the past! Think of Walt Whitman, who said he was "simmering simmering simmering" until the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson brought him to a boil and inspired "Leaves of Grass." Or English thinker John Stuart Mill, who found the poems of William Wordsworth a "medicine for his state of mind" after he had an emotional collapse as a young man. Or W.E.B. DuBois, who found relief from a Jim Crow society in the classics: "I sit with Shakespeare, and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm and arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls."

The loss of literary values among young people is a long-term weakening of literary culture, but other effects are more immediate. Colleges report that more than half their entering classes must undergo remedial coursework in reading and writing. Manufacturers say that the poor reading skills of newer workers make it difficult to raise productivity and keep pace with technology. Falling newspaper subscriptions have made journalism more hasty and entertainment-oriented, a ruinous tendency for one of the guarantors of a democratic process.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
crankyoldguy
No Avatar
Royal Hunter of Game
colo_crawdad
Nov 21 2004, 09:45 AM



The loss of literary values among young people is a long-term weakening of literary culture, but other effects are more immediate. Colleges report that more than half their entering classes must undergo remedial coursework in reading and writing. Manufacturers say that the poor reading skills of newer workers make it difficult to raise productivity and keep pace with technology. Falling newspaper subscriptions have made journalism more hasty and entertainment-oriented, a ruinous tendency for one of the guarantors of a democratic process.
[/QUOTE]
Lowell,

I have noticed the same thing in today's young people. My only recent experience is within the military. Even those who have degrees are lacking in some of the basic skills of english composition.

I think much of it is due to lack of emphasis at the high school level.

"Falling newspaper subscriptions have made journalism more hasty and entertainment-oriented, a ruinous tendency for one of the guarantors of a democratic process"


I also think 'more entertainment oriented' says much about what the public wants.

That lack of desire to read (something worthwhile) is disturbing. I am convinced that my success in school and in life is directly related to my desire to read and read some more.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Admin
No Avatar
Keeper of the Castle
I am not for sure why Lowell. My mother was a English high school teacher. When my sister and I were young she would buy us anything we would read(and she could afford). That included, going against all tradition, comic books. Her theory was that if you could just get a child to read almost anything they would learn to love to read. Then later they could be steered toward better literature. I think she may have been right. I still love to read. I had to take Sr. English from her and I still remember reading Macbeth in her class.

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
kiwi_too
No Avatar
Sir Perceval, Ruler of the Realm
I see technology, or more correctly, how it is used as part of the problem. TV and the X-Box are the babysitter. It is easy to get a kid to watch a mindless Barney show then to read a book. Hours of conquering each other in Half Life is the ultimate day for teens. Do parents do anything to foster and encourage their children to read the classics.

Values and ethics of the Me society have changed. We have a "get ahead at ny cost" society. It seams that up through college age, they think it is OK to cheat. Ya don't work on an essay or paper. You buy it. This has migrated into false resumes. Are children being raised to be lazy and cheats?

Most of this results in short term prosperity. Cheating seems to catch up to all. On the other hand I believe there are a lot of good folks out there, also.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Fr. Mike
No Avatar
Abbot Monk, Vintner & Steak Knife Keeper, Purveyor of Stamps
I wonder how much the recent avalanch of illegal and legal newcomers to our country have influenced those statistics.

In California, I have read, the schools must contend with students who speak 60 different lanquages. I suspect that the schools don't supply classic literature in 60 different lanquages for the students to read.

Just an observation.

Fr. Mike
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Ye Olde Unto the Breach · Next Topic »
Add Reply

Theme by Don of The Light Fantastic