Literacy (is Re: Harry Potter)

[Doug Millison]

I defer to Pynchon's devastating critique in Vineland, where he 
depicts the Tube as a disease that robs us of our history and our 
dreams, a weapon and tool in the hands of those forces that co-opted 
the 60s revolution and gave us Reagan.

Other forms of learning (computers, etc.) may add something to a 
child's education (although I have my doubts -- the little girl with 
a Barbie computer logging on to Disney.com comes to mind, then 
perhaps doing some homework with corporate-sponsored software), but 
the kind of learning that comes from books and, through books, 
engaging us in an ongoing conversation with our ancestors and each 
other as we read, engaging us with others (teachers, fellow students, 
etc.) as we discuss what we read -- that can't be replaced.  I'm 
always surprised to hear highly educated (with the aid of books) 
people argue otherwise.
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