http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14823087/?GT1=8717
Just got through reading that article, and despite its low rating by readers, I think it will be more appreciated here.
It's pretty scary, at least to me. I mean, I understand that many, if not most occupations out there do not require that a person have extensive reading skill, and most people can live a normal, happy life without having read classic literature...even my own boyfriend has a promising future set out before him, and he never has, and never plans to, read any books from start to finish, except for The Hobbit.
I know also that literature is already an endeavor enjoyed only by a limited few...at least in the big picture. It's just like any other "hobby," some like cars, some like music, and some like reading...
But I still think that reading and analyzing literature in itself stimulates the mind in ways necessary for humankind to learn how to solve problems and see things in different perspectives. If literature really does become like this article depicts, I think we are all doomed to become just like George Orwell's 1984 world in which some people make it their goal to have only a handful of words make up a language...total elimination of creativity and ability to put thoughts together, to have ideas, to solve problems, and think for oneself.
Any thoughts? It's almost enough to make a future English teacher cry...