Literacy

In my inbox this week:

A link to Albert Mohler's blog, discussing this article:

Librarian's Lament: Books Are a Hard Sell:

"A library's neglected shelves reveal the demise of something important, especially for young readers starved for meaning -- for anything profound. Still, I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet."

From Dr. Mohler:

"Do our own young people read books? Do they know the pleasures of the solitary reading of a life-changing page? Have they ever lost themselves in a story, framed by their own imaginations rather than by digital images? Have they ever marked up a page, urgently engaged in a debate with the author? Can they even think of a book that has changed the way they see the world . . . or the Christian faith? If not, why not?"

This is not just a theoretical discussion for me. I have one child whose vision issues have made reading less than a pleasure. It has taken me awhile to realize that this must be extra difficult for someone in a family like ours. You can't even go to the restroom in this house without being confronted with a bookcase. I have considered that a good thing, both because of my own love of books and my desire and expectation that my students would follow suit. I am just now beginning to understand that for someone who views reading as work and not pleasure, this world filled with books, and with people who talk about them ad nauseam, can feel a bit claustrophobic and perhaps a little lonely.

I have some more thinking to do.