Sunday, January 21, 2007

Bryan Appleyard wonders ...

... Could this be the final chapter in the life of the book. (Not suprisingly, Dave Lull also sent along a link to this.)

... it is the teachers who will have the final say. They will determine whether people will read for information, knowledge or, ultimately, wisdom. If they fail and their pupils read only for information, then we are in deep trouble. For the net doesn’t educate and the mind must be primed to deal with its informational deluge. On that priming depends the future of civilisation. How we handle the digitising of the libraries will determine who we are to become.

Well, we'd better get some good teachers.

In the meantime, Bryan also goes back to the moon: Mission possible.

2 comments:

  1. "They will determine whether people will read for information, knowledge or, ultimately, wisdom."

    I get the feeling from the article that one of the requirements for 'wisdom in literature' is ink.

    I get the feeling from the article that there's lots of profs afraid they won't be able to force their students to buy their highly priced text books.

    But that's just a feeling I have. I'm probably completely off base, right?

    -blue

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:03 PM

    I disagree that only teachers will decide the future of book readers. I believe parents contribute an enormous influence in this area. My wife and I are both avid readers, and have subsequently raised 4 readers as well. My 22 year old loves Agatha Christie, my 17 year old is into Asimov's non-fiction related to science and physics, my 12 year old loves Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary, and my 9 year old reads anything she can get her hands on. Like most areas of education, it's foolish to leave this strictly in teachers' hands (aren't they busy enough?), parents need to do their job as well.

    ReplyDelete