Defining Literacy Down

Every generation worries about the next -- and usually with good reason. Here is another reason for worry about today's adolescents and young adults -- they don't read. That is a generalization, of course. But the generalization seems to be holding true.

Thomas Washington, librarian at a Washington, DC area private school, recently contributed a "lament" to The Washington Post. The kids are privileged and have no problem of access to books, but they do not read. As he reports:

I'm a librarian in an independent Washington area school. We're doing all the right things. Our class sizes are small. Most graduating seniors gain admission to their college of choice. The facilities are first-rate.

Yet from my vantage point at the reference desk, something is amiss. The books in the library stacks are gathering dust.

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