Reading is still good for you
Dana Gioia, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, has written an op-ed piece for the Boston Globe on a disturbing trend in American life: the general public’s declining interest in the arts, especially literature. Gioia cites the NEA’s 2002 study on American cultural habits, which showed a general decrease in arts participation. According to the study, literature has been hardest hit, expecially in the under-25 category. Gioia speculates about the effects of this decline in reading on American culture and politics. His conclusions are both disturbing and resonant: “Advanced literacy is a specific intellectual skill and social habit that depends on a great many educational, cultural, and economic factors. As more Americans lose this capability, our nation becomes less informed, active, and independent-minded.”
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Read Dana Gioia’s piece in the Boston Globe
