.......KIDS AND READING.......

If you're reading this you aren't an average young American..and if you are...shame on you, I'm x-rated..Go pick up a Harry Potter book and ged'oudda here.

Only 30 percent of 13-year-olds read almost every day.

The number of 17-year-olds who never read for pleasure increased from 9 percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004.

Almost half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 never read for pleasure.

The average person between ages 15 and 24 spends 2 to 2 1/2 hours a day watching TV and seven minutes reading.

There is a 99-page study called "To Read or Not to Read," and is a follow-up to a 2004 NEA survey, "Reading at Risk," that found an increasing number of adults were not reading even one book a year. The findings were based on government, academic and foundation data.

The report also finds that the more books there are in a young person's home, the higher their average scores in science, civics and history.But the report notes that average household spending on books,adjusted for inflation, dropped 14 percent from 1985 to 2005.

According to the report, reading ability has fallen as well.While scores have improved for 9-year-olds, they dropped sharply for 17-year-olds. Only about a third of high school seniors read at a proficient level, a 13 percent decline since 1992."And proficiency is not a high standard," NEA Chairman Dana Gioia said. "We're not asking them to be able to read Proust in the original.We're talking about reading the daily paper."

(and why the drop you ask?..ok..so I asked.)

The report suggests that multi-tasking is a factor. It found that more than half of middle and high school students use other media most or some of the time while reading,and that 20 percent of the time they spend reading they are also watching TV, playing video games, sending messages or other-wise using a computer.

fuckity fuck fuck fuck!...We're going to end up with a nation of fat, illiterate kids with thumbs the size of salami's.

I personally think, as if anyone gives a fuck..think that kids should not be allowed to play video games, play on the computer or watch TV until they have read at least 2 books a week..I don't understand how the parents can't afford to buy their kids books, but can buy them expensive x-boxes and the games to go with them..Some one needs to bip the parents upside the head...and I'm volunteering for the job..sigh*...really pisses me off...When my kids were little, one of the first things I did was take them to get library cards..which is what my parents did for me..I took my granddaughters to get their first library cards too..It all starts at home with the parents..and they are falling down on their job..They can use money, time and any and every excuse in the world for why they don't encourage their kids to read..but if they can haul their ass to the mall and take them to the movies, they can haul their ass to the library and have them check out a book...Libraries are free...Of course if we had a President that didn't go around saying "OUR CHILDRENS ARE LEARNING".. we might have a better chance of teaching them to read..