Scouting, Volume 68, Number 4, September 1980 Page: 57
98 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Why
Johnny
Doesn't
Read:
And
What
You Can
Do
About It!
BY BOB PETEBSON
Photograph hij David Attic
JUST ABOUT everybody agrees
that reading is a good thing, like
liberty, the flag, and mom's apple
pie. Most people also agree that
reading well is a prerequisite for
the professions, the skilled trades,
and most other jobs. Some of us
believe reading is one of the keys,
and maybe the most important,
that unlock the doors to a full life.
So how come reading is a lan-
guishing art"1
Consider these facts:
• Some 23 million Americans can't
read well enough to understand a
help-wanted ad or a bus schedule.
• Nearly half of all adults never
read a book.
• The vast majority of Americans
rely solely on television for news,
even though TV newsmen admit
that they furnish only a headline
service, hardly adequate tor under-
standing today's world.
Most distressing of all. there is
evidence that children and young
people read less, and less well, than
their parents did in their youth.
While there has been no recent re-
search on how much reading
youngsters are doing outside of
school, librarians and reading ex-
perts believe there has been a
steady decline. And the College
Entrance Examination Board's
Scholastic Aptitude Tests show a
continuing drop in reading com-
prehension by high school seniors.
Who, or what, is the culprit?
Many people blame television,
pointing out that by the time the
average teen-ager is graduated
from high school, he has spent
11,000 hours in school and 15.000
hours in front of the TV set. But it
he hadn't watched all that televi-
sion. would he have been reading a
great deal more? Some experts
doubt it. They think that televi-
sion-viewing cuts more into play-
time than into time given to read-
ing for pleasure.
While preparing this article, I
made a thoroughly unscientific
Scouting September 1980
sampling of the reading and TV-
watching habits of my Webelos den
members. They live in a small, fair-
ly affluent town in New Jersey with
well-regarded schools. All read
above their grade level on stan-
dardized tests. Here is what they
told me:
Ken: "1 don't read much for
pleasure. Sometimes I'll read a
little in The Wonderful World of
Knowledge, and 1 read Boys' Life,
especially the joke pages. 1 guess 1
watch TV 4 to 41/, hours a day."
Gian: "I read a lot. I'd be bored
eating breakfast without reading. I
suppose 1 read about a half-hour a
day outside of school. I watch TV
about l'/2 hours."
Reading is a
languishing art, say
the experts. How can
we parents reverse
this trend?
Chris: 'T read a lot. maybe five
books a week. Right now I'm read-
ing the Danny Dunn books on
science. I probably read a couple of
hours a day and watch 2 hours of
TV."
Den Chief Gregg: "1 only read
when I'm really into a book, maybe
a half-hour to an hour a day on the
average. I watch TV for 5 to 5'/,
hours."
Not to put too fine a point on it.
my Webelos Scouts, products of
good schools and relative afflu-
ence, average less than an hour a
day with books, magazines, and
newspapers and more than three
hours in front of the TV set. And I
suspect that they read more than
the average boy.
Researchers have found that
tele\ ision-view ing tends to decline
by the teen years (the peak period
is about age nine), but that doesn't
mean that teen-agers turn to books
and magazines. In my town, cir-
culation of books for teen-agers in
57
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 68, Number 4, September 1980, periodical, September 1980; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353701/m1/57/: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.