
Why Teach English? (2013) - samclemens
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/why-teach-english
======
6stringmerc
Quite a topsy-turvey musing and not at all bad. Really tries to get into the
meat of the concept of an English major. However, I find the following rather
funny in simply how wrong it is:

> _And so with English departments: if we closed down every English department
> in the country, loud, good, expert, or at least hyper-enthusiastic readers
> would still emerge. One sees this happening already, in the steady pulse of
> reading groups and books clubs which form, in effect, a kind of archipelago
> of amateur English departments._

From what I've read (ha!), long-form reading is steadily on the decline and
shows no sign of slowing down. Sure, there are a few prestige outlets
experimenting with formats to engage audiences, and investigative journalism
is still a worthwhile pursuit, but those are sidebar discussions to what's
being asserted above.

No, with technology, now audiences don't have to bother with reading for
instruction or entertainment. Simply look at the history of music, and now
that entire libraries of material can be put in one's pocket, the scarcity and
effort factor of pursuit is nearly extinct. Books were portable. They were
cheap to access.

Well, now that multimedia is not only portable but cheap too - streaming audio
services, free-to-watch or subscription video services, and user-content
generated platforms like Instagram/Twitter/Facebook - I see the long-form
reading and thinking avenue on the out.

It makes me sad. It's a lot like the argument against learning to write
cursive - sure, it's hard, but it's a challenge that spurs mental development.
Long-form reading and critical thinking are inter-twined. Reading for
pleasure, in modern times, is drooling over click-bait headlines, and it's not
going to turn around anytime soon.

