Ramblings et al

I read a very interesting article from the NYTimes Online, “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?” by Motoko Rich which is the first article in a series that looks at “how the Internet and other technological and social forces are changing the way people read.” It argues both sides of the issue: the Internet is dumbing us down and if they’re reading then they’re reading, just in a different way. I personally don’t know what to think of the issue overall. Reading is good but what is good reading. I believe that the skill involved in reading a novel and the ability to focus on the author’s message, craft, attention or lack of attention to details is essential to so many areas of thinking and doing. However, the ability to located information quickly and accurately and draw conclusions from several source is cognitively challenging as well. Is there a middle ground?

The article highlights a teenager named Nadia and discusses how her mother tries to get her to read books but she is only interested in being online. Besides the normal networking/chat stuff she engages in, she also spends a great deal of time reading and contributing to works of fiction online through fanfiction.net and quizilla.com. Is she reading? Yes, just different in a different way.

Other students are mentioned and all seem to feel that online reading is superior. Zachary feels that the Internet offers more of a “conversation” and that “books are more one way.” XXXXX, who has been diagnosed with dyslexia, finds the Internet more accessible and engaging, he doesn’t like “all the boring details” of books (don’t read Moby Dick!). He has also been far more successful with online reading.

So, online reading? Godsend or product of the Devil? Maybe we should give it a try and then test the heck out the kids to see if they can cut in the real world which they also discuss in the article. But, will the real world more closely resemble what we dinosaurs grew up with (Ethan Fromme, Mill on the Floss, The Catcher in the Rye, etc –the truly uninteresting to the great) or what our students are creating behind our backs on collaborative websites?

Obviously, the article made me think – do you really have to “know how to read” to think? This could be a truly circular argument. <grin>