Whatever happened to the 3 R’s? (Reading, ritting and rithmatic)

Is it possible to graduate from high school, college or grad school and not be a reader? I totally applaud the push for STEM education and the need for our society to keep up with the technological craze.  Yet, the reality for most that graduate with that degree in science or even liberal studies degree is that your ability or desire to be a reader is clearly less then it was before the text, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat or LinkedIn era.  I chuckle after watching a TED talk about how we learn and the evolution or de-evolution of education over the last century.

Is it possible that a one room classroom context from the 1900’s could be more effective at birthing a passion in students to be life long readers and learners that never settle for what they learned yesterday as being enough.  I will be the first to admit that I love being able to read on my Ipad with my Kindle App. It’s awesome to have a large library on my pad minus having a myriad of bookshelves in my office.

Yet, the personal struggle is that my grandson will grow up in in an era where reading is optional! It will be too easy to allow high tech toys to take the place of actual reading to him that would empower him to want to read with his grandparents or on his own. It’s too tempting to go online to fake it on a test and save time from having to read a 300-page book when I can look at a summary of a book in a few pages online. The excitement of having a book capture your imagination is less likely to happen when you can watch the movie on Netflix or go to an IMAX Theater.

I agree that we live in a crazy busy world where having the luxury to sit on your favorite chair or for me to be perched on my bed with my dogs is heaven isn’t going to happen for most people. Yet, the sad reality is that regardless of your family up rearing  bookstores and libraries could become a past tense phenom soon. So what has to happen in our culture to ensure the babies being raised today will actually hold a book in their hands or at least a tablet and actually read on their own as they grow up?

The tension is that our hobbies, i.e. sports addiction and social media craze, have replaced our interest in reading and even learning. The NFL season has become more sacred than taking your kid, dog or grandkid for a walk.  Sadly most spend more time texting than talking or reading.  

So how do you stretch your brain and rise above the temptations of sports and social media to become a life long learner that chooses to read?