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Are books out of style?
By Christina Quick | January 29, 2008
Kids aren’t reading as much as they once did — and test scores reflect that fact, according to a recent report from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The study revealed less than one third of 13-year-olds read daily during their leisure time. Yet teens spend more than 72 hours a week interacting with electronic media — from television to iPhones and computers.
Consequently, reading scores have plummeted over the last 15 years. American 15-year-olds rank fifteenth in literacy performance among youth in 31 industrialized nations.
I find it troubling that many kids are better acquainted with Abercrombie and Fitch than Avonlea and Finn. Perhaps it’s time to replace their credit cards with something more valuable, like library cards.
Topics: Trends |
January 31st, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I definitely have to agree with that (sadly)- books are apparently out of style. I’m a teenager and I love to read, and so does my younger brother. Sadly, however, we are both in the minority in our school when it comes to our love of reading. Hopefully, someday, that will change and more teenagers will come to love reading books instead of looking at them as something required for school and nothing more…
February 5th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
How true. I can’t sound as philosophical as you, but I certainly have enjoyed the benefit of reading and think of how deprived one must be (whether aware of it or not) who cannot read.
February 13th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
So true. I am blessed to have kids that love to read. They also love to go to the library. I have to admit that I have failed them in this respect because we don’t go like we used to. I think one of the best decisions I ever made was to take their TV from their rooms. I don’t say that lightly. It was a hard decision that took a lot of prayer and definitely God’s help. I’m sad to say I just wasn’t brave enough to do it on my own. :o)