Why can’t Johnny read anymore? Well maybe he can but not at a level that will make him successful. This probably won’t be a very popular post.

I’ve always enjoyed writing, not so much fiction as much as real-life issues or experiences. Back in my college days, we didn’t have computers, iPhone’s, AI, or anything that would make our lectures/studies “easier”. We had spiral notebooks for each subject. You had better be able to write quickly during a lecture or you might as well throw in the towel. Tammy and I married right before I went to college, and fortunately for me, she excelled at typing. I considered myself a pretty fair typist (now called keyboarding), but she surpassed me easily. She saved me hours of time by typing my papers.

Writing and reading go hand in hand. You cannot do one without the other. Now, the age of technology has in my opinion, allowed the dumbing down of our students. If you have looked at the reading scores across the county, it’s abysmal. In one state 8th graders are reading at a 2nd grade level. This should terrify you because only one grade level lower is the reading level of the “Dick and Jane” series of books.

Dick and Jane Series of Books, I loved those books!

In fact, only 35% of high school seniors read at grade level.

Surprisingly, they don’t even teach cursive anymore in school. I could not have survived college if I had to print during lectures. Also, how are these kids going to sign their names on legal documents? It seems that the school system has changed – and not for the better.

AI has now allowed students in college to manufacture required course work without knowing any of the subject matter. So, who needs to be a subject matter expert when you can just use Chat GPT.

When I was in grade school, they actually held kids back if they couldn’t pass the class. Now everyone passes because “It’s more psychologically damaging to hold a student back”. Really? I would think it would be more damaging when they can’t get a job because they can’t read, write, or do fundamental math. My personal feeling is that when teachers need to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to help students that can’t do grade-level work, it drags everyone else down.

The reason I bring this up is because there has been a move away from reading over the last 20 years. Blogs have transitioned to Vlogs; websites have transitioned to YouTube channels. Sure, videos are great, and you can learn a lot from them, but without being able to read and comprehend the written word, your life will just be incredibly difficult to navigate.

I’ve noticed this move away from reading on my own websites. In particular on the 1966 Beetle Forum. When that site was developed, forums were quite popular. They were a place to read and interact with folks that had a common interest. When Facebook came along, many forums were replaced with Facebook pages. A year after Facebook premiered, here came YouTube. YouTube requires no reading capability, unless of course you decide to take part in the comments. As I’ve said in the past, it is a great way to learn how to fix things. However, it is no substitute for being able to read an owner’s manual.

I would say that perhaps it’s good that Facebook and other social media platforms still require reading. However, if you have ever looked closely at authors use of the English language, punctuation, and spelling, within their posts – you might think otherwise.

I enjoy all the platforms that are out there. This isn’t a trashing of social media…because here I am, on it along with you. Rather, it is a warning about where we are headed as a society. We seem to be moving toward visual rather than written learning.

If you are a young parent, the most important thing you can do for your child is to read to them. Parents are the most important link in a child’s reading and education. A child that can read well is going to have a huge advantage in school and in life. Reading is the cornerstone of all learning.

For those of you that still really enjoy reading, thanks for visiting our website traveltrailernation.com and “Our Entire Travel Trailer Blog”.