Bauerlein, Mark (2008) The Dumbest Generation: How The Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher
Super Summarizer for pages 39-70 by Mary Larscheid-Christensen
Chapter Two, The New Biblophobes
A bibliophobe is a person who hates or dislikes books.
This chapter discusses the decline of reading in the USA. Books are rejected by young adults. When the Harry Potter series were published, They did spark a reinvigoration of reading. Sales of books increased giving hope to the Book Industry Study Group, which keeps track of the book business, but the reading habit didn’t continue.
Many statistics were given on how many young people don’t like to read, score lower on reading tests, and literary reading rates dropped. Young Americans are reading less all the time.
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“As the occasions of reading diminish, reading becomes a harder task. A sinister corollary to the cognitive benefit applies: the more you don’t read, the more you can’t read.”
The chapter also uses the term e-literacy for young Americans, labeling them not as illiterate, but e-literates. Explaining that they don’t worry about learning to spell, when there is spell-check. This is a new kind of literacy where they use problem solving, use rapid communication and digital technology.
Young adults think differently, they enjoy being engaged. They are digitally proficient. Their wealth, cultural access and education increase, but intellectually they suffer.
I also found the the line "Today's generation thinks more highly of its lesser traits." to be very interesting as well as slightly disturbing. This generation is proud to share that they haven't ever read a book.
ReplyDeleteAs the book progresses, the different views taken by Mark Bauerlein are amazing me. I am shocked at times and then amazed also at the data he presents.
ReplyDeleteAs a language arts teacher, I can appreciate the alarming statistics of how reading correlates with testing success. The incredibly poor vocabularies of non-readers has to have an impact on the ability of students to navigate text in a testing situation. I also appreciate the listing of famous Americans who expressed the necessity of reading, including Douglass, Whitman and DuBois.
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