What Johnny Won't Read

[umberto rossi]

In data 12 Jul 2004, verso le 13:54, Dave Monroe si trovò a scrivere 
su What Johnny Won't Read:

> Not that books are likely to improve any time soon.
> The really scary news in "Reading at Risk" is tucked
> away on page 22. While the number of people reading
> literature has gone down, the number of people trying
> to write it has actually gone up. We seem to be slowly
> turning into a nation of "creative writers," more
> interested in what we have to say ourselves than in
> reading or thinking about what anyone else has to say.

Which is what is also happening in a place which is considerably 
different from the US, that is Italy. It should be said that here 
less than half of the polulation read, and if you want to take in 
account those who read more than 10-15 books a year, it's less than a 
quarter (I guess less than a tenth). There's a widespread idea here 
that Americans are ignorant, and I often discuss that with my 
students, pointing out at them that in the US people read much more 
than in Italy... but, lo and behold, you have the same writer 
syndrome, people who do not read much but want to write, and usually 
write crap. I guess that's connected with this self-centredness which 
seems to be a main feature of teenagers today, or at least the 
teenagers I have to deal with at school.

umberto rossi
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