TV vs. Reading et al

[David Casseres]

Sojourner, putting it in perspective, sez
>Yes, TV, movies, animal-watching et al has merit.  Unfortunately,
>everything but reading seems to have enough support and champions
>that they do not need further help.

Well, that's absolutely right.  And I guess, no matter how I love movies, 
if I thought I could save reading by dumping movies I would do it with a 
song on my lips.

Alas, reading is in real trouble.  Some years back I tried to campaign 
with managers in the personal-computer industry to get serious about 
adapting typographical principles and designs to what happens on our 
computer screens, so as to make them more readable.  The managers' eyes 
glazed over so rapidly that I was forced to conclude that they had no 
idea what I meant by "readability" because they do not, in fact, read 
anything that is long enough to make readability an issue.

My wife, who does early-childhood education on various fronts, sez that 
there's one thing that overwhelmingly determines/predicts whether a child 
will become a reader or not: whether she sees adults in her home reading. 
 If she sees them watching toob instead, she'll watch toob too; but if 
she sees them spending time with a book, magazine or newspaper on a 
regular basis, she's very likely to wind up doing the same.  The 
significance of school experiences, parental urging, peer pressure, etc., 
is negligible by comparison.


Cheers,
David