One of my father’s favorite things to say to me is “You’re young and you don’t know anything.” so you can imagine my annoyance while beginning to do our reading for the week. Being about two decades out from when this book was written, I wanted to believe that my generation had been able to stop the ignorant madness that was introduced in chapter one until my TikTok opened and when asked who the first president was, a man answered “George Floyd.”
When it came to the section on literacy rates and the lack of desire to read books, I already felt prepared for what was coming. I’d done enough dates, debates, and family dinners to know that the next item was the “I don’t really read books crowd.” Who’s going to tell them that we can tell? Me? Okay. For me and my experience, what I’ve noticed is that people don’t like to read because they were no less than forced to read things that did hold an interest for them while in school. However, that gives them no excuse for later in life especially when books are both easily accessible as ever, but just as endangered due to censorship.
I think though much of the criticism within the chapters are valid, it also comes from a very biased perspective that, though it seems they want to have a deeper personal understanding of why the youth acts the way it does. It’s very research heavy, which isn’t really a bad thing, but it adds a level of almost hostility to the writing.
I hope that nowadays, living in the mad times that we do, more people are willing to be educated on all these issues surrounding us. Honestly though? Who are we kidding with blatant ignorance and avoidance running rampant these days and not just among the youth either.
That’s All For Now, Folks!
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