Tom Stoppard/love of books

[RamonaThePest]

What do people think about Tom Stoppard talking about children losing a love of books?

Do children today read as much as we did?

Are they exposed to all the fables, fairy tales, poetry, plays, we were?

Does this matter?

I certainly think my DS reads as much as I did at his age (16), and he has done all through his childhood, despite also being a fan of computer games etc. So I don't think it's every child by any means.

But, at his last school parents evening, one teacher complemented his work and said "It's obvious that he's read a book or two", and went on to say that she could tell from their written English which of the children were reading a lot and which had hardly ever opened a book unless the school had demanded it.

I was really quite startled that children his age group (those who were not leaving school the first chance they got) might not have read a lot!

I don't know how you counter that - of course schools can make them read a certain amount, but if they don't then choose to read in their own time, then they won't get that "extra" fluency in their reading and writing.

I think mostly Tom Stoppard was talking about that reading outside school - and how PCs, DSes, etc, had taken away from that.

Well done to your DS anyway!