I've copied and pasted this directly from my blog. Feel free to share on facebook or twitter-- I want opinions on this! This has been bouncing around in my head for the past week since I read an article about B&N's impending collapse, and I feel it's an issue that I should bring up to the writing community.

http://jasmine-walt.blogspot.com/2012/02/literacy-and-ebooks.html

I can't seem to find the original article I read, but basically the concern is that B&N is going under because they can't keep up with Amazon's model and are losing business. Seeing as how B&N is the last major bookstore standing, this is a big deal because if it collapses you can pretty much say goodbye to the print industry. Sure, you'll be able to order print books online, borrow them from the library, or if you're lucky enough, get them from a small, locally owned store. But for the most part, ebooks will take over.

Now, what the hell does this have to do with literacy, you ask? I'm a phonics tutor. My company is currently contracted with the government and we are tutoring the children of poor families who are behind in their reading. In Albuquerque at least, what I've seen is appalling. We're dealing with ten year olds on the cusp of entering Junior High who can barely read first grade material. And this isn't even a third world country. This is in AMERICA.

I know that New Mexico is considered to have one of the worst public school systems in the nation, but to be honest the public school system as a whole sucks. Rather than encouraging their students to think for themselves and cultivate a desire to learn, they shove information down the children's throats without really ensuring they understand it, and basically the whole point is to condition them. If you don't believe or understand this, you should read Against School by John Taylor Gatto, (http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm) who has taught in the system for around thirty years.Your jaw will drop, and your tongue will roll across the floor. Seriously. But anyway, my point is that because of our sucky school system, the literacy level in our nation is suffering.

What do you think will happen if we can no longer buy print books for our children to read? Like I said, we'll have libraries around and will be able to buy online. But print books will still become a whole lot less accessible, and do you really think the parents of poor families are going to be buying their children e-readers? Who in their right mind would give a small child such an expensive electronic anyway, unless they could afford replacing it at least twenty times a year? I don't know about you, but when I'm looking for a book I will go to the bookstore rather than the library. It's nice to be able to flip through the pages, read the backs, look at the pictures, etc, of a new book rather than one that's creased and dog-eared and has coffee stains on it. If I can't afford to buy the book then I'll look it up and see if it's available at the library. But nine times out of ten any books I want have a three-week waiting list anyway.

I know that children's books don't normally have a three-week waiting list, but if print books were gone, I could easily see that happening. How much reading do you think a child would get done if they had to wait three weeks every time they wanted a book?

I'm sure there are holes in this argument. Feel free to poke at them. But the way I see it, eliminating print books is going to hurt the literacy level of our current and future generations. At the very least, it certainly isn't going to help.

What do you think? DISCUSS!

Posted: 03/02/2012 17:17:20
Last Edit: 03/02/2012 17:19:35 by Textual Ribbons

report abuse

There will be book kiosks.

Posted: 03/02/2012 17:21:32

report abuse

There will be book kiosks.

I've seen childrens book kiosks on Manhattan street corners. I suppose that's possible.

Posted: 03/02/2012 17:22:23

report abuse

Oh, and Kmart and other discount stores have books. Even grocery stores.

Posted: 03/02/2012 17:23:22

report abuse

Oh, and Kmart and other discount stores have books. Even grocery stores.

But grocery stores don't usually carry a wide selection of children's books. Kmart, yeah.

Posted: 03/02/2012 17:27:28

report abuse

But grocery stores don't usually carry a wide selection of children's books. Kmart, yeah.

I am going out on a limb here to say that the internet is a strong literacy motivator among children today.

If they want to be able to search and find information, then they have to pay attention to reading and spelling.

Unfortunately though, the critical thinking skills needed to use the Internet without getting taken in, are often developed through exposure to literature, not just through reading "information", and to me, that is an even bigger issue.

Without a healthy exposure to a variety of opposing views, and learning how to reason and reconcile them, they are easily polarised into one opinion or another by internet pundits.

All this to say that, while the internet may encourage kids to learn how tro read, it doesn't necissarily teach them how to reason. Literature does that.




Posted: 03/02/2012 18:03:32

report abuse

I'm afraid I don't agree with your reasoning on this issue.
B&N – and the major publishers, if they're not very, very careful – will be forced out of business for no other reason than their senior management failed to compete with Amazon and other new ventures. We all know things change. People paid the top dollar in top businesses are required to instigate those changes and be ahead of the field. When a relatively new competitor overtakes them by offering a service customers want, that new competitor should be congratulated, not labelled as the bringer of Apocalypse.
It would also be beyond hypocritical for anyone involved with the major players in the publishing industry to cry foul at Amazon's aggressive tactics. That's business.

Constantly improving literacy is a responsibility to be shared between parents, governments, schools, and writers – all of society, in fact. There are a lot of texts that will be more convenient for students to acquire in a digital format, rather than carry around unwieldy and expensive paper books.
Given that your blog and many others continue to cover this hot topic, it's safe to assume our society is not going to forget how much literacy matters. With regard to less developed countries than our own, good work has already been done in creating very cheap laptops; before too long we can also expect to see very cheap and basic ereaders. If those help, then that's a good thing.

Printed books will be around for as long there is a demand for them. The print industry is massive; and there too, where the bosses of those companies have failed to adapt to technological advances, they will and should be left behind.
Lots of companies are hit in this way through little or no fault of their own. Others just run out of talent and become complacent - and the world continues to progress.

Posted: 03/02/2012 18:06:10
Last Edit: 03/02/2012 18:24:52 by not really there

report abuse

Seriously, it grieves me so that society is falling into the ebooks phenomena. It is so much nicer and intimate to pick up a book and read from page to page. Personally, I don't like ebooks - sorry to say - I prefer to be able to have that bundle in my hands, not on a screen. Does that make sense?

Oh btw - LOVE your blog and I finally got to see your face wooooooohooooooo!!! Now I know who I'm talking to - so good !!!


Posted: 03/02/2012 18:11:47

report abuse

Barnes and Noble isn't going under. In fact, their sales are up from last year.

http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/press_releases/2011_feb_22_3rd_quarter_financial_results.html

I don't know why people start these rumours.

Posted: 03/02/2012 19:10:23

report abuse

And why would more ebooks equate with illiteracy? Ebooks are only different in their delivery of text to the reader. Reading stuff on the internet hasn't sent literacy on the decline. Texting maybe, but what of the gajillion blogs? Many are very well written. We can't get those in a brick and mortar. Well, yes if they have wifi. But it is reading, just not on paper. My daughter and I just bought nooks and her kids are discovering all sorts of book downloads. And maybe the future of learning to read will be all the interactive stuff kids love.

Posted: 04/02/2012 02:55:49

report abuse