Here we go! Another school year is well underway. Everyone is reeving to hit the books and pack in information and knowledge that will last a lifetime. Right?
Well, I am not sure. I assigned Paul Roberts’ essay “How To Say Nothing in 500 Words” to my Comp I students last week – the first reading assignment of the semester. And guess what? Over 3/4 of the students did not read the entire essay. Most probably didn’t read beyond the first 500 words. What’s really going on? Have students given up on reading? Or, is Roberts’ essay just that boring? I don’t thinks so. Students read all day – and all night, facebooking, texting and googling. In fact, students probably read more today than I did when all I had was a pager and a telephone booth. Is Roberts’ essay really that boring? Maybe to a youngster who reads in intervals of 140 characters. War and Peace was a little long for me when I almost read it as a high school-er.
We’ll have to think this reading thing through.
Check out this video that explores the issue further. (Don’t worry, you wont’ have to read that much to understand this one.)
