De-minding our young

(Another voice added to the little heard cries about the dumbing down of education today.)

Yesterday I listened to a discussion, aired by the radio station of the University of Guadalajara, on how to get Mexican children to read more, which it seems theirs don't either. A group concerned with the question had compiled a solid list of suggested reading for Mexican students (including Dumas and Robert Louis Stevenson). I wish them well.

What caught my attention was that, as Mexico tries to raise its standards, we have sought to lower ours, with notable success. It seems a perverse thing to do. My daughters recently graduated from high school (and do read) so I have an idea of the state of bookish affairs. By all reports, even smart children today read little, and still less that is worth reading. I have seen the science fiction and political correctness required of them. It is sorry stuff. They have missed, I think, an important boat.

The wonderful children's books of the past were not merely for children, and were not in the least dumbed down (I prefer "enstupidated") or unsophisticated. Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner are delightful things, notable for the sheer quality of the writing. Through the Looking Glass and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are not easy books, unsurprising since Dodgson was a mathematician, and swim in deep philosophical waters. The Wind in the Willows likewise bears rereading by grownups and, may I emphasize, isn't easy reading unless a child has truly learned to read. These required of children a mastery of the language that adults now do not have. Read entire article by clicking on the title.