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That is the question in this weeks issue 13 of Education Weeks news.   In my opinion. While I think screen time may do more harm than good in the long run, I think that it’s not the reason for a drop in reading scores.

First, reading scores have been declining since the onset of the whole language movement.  But the article in Education Week says that a little more than 1/3rd of American students are proficient in reading grades 4th and 8th grade.  Say what?!  A little more than 33% of students are proficient?! Can you believe that? It hasn’t changed since I joined Usborne Books & More!  So the article’s spurious reasoning doesn’t make any sense.  Reading scores haven’t declined but stayed the same!

Students’ haven’t made any head way since I graduated in 1992.   Computer use isn’t the cause of low reading scores.  It’s the fact that students in public school aren’t being taught to read and write.   

I think that we should be asking better questions and say: “well… maybe… it’s more something of the flawed curriculum and the flawed policy, rather than say it’s the culture. Although, we aren’t a literate culture like we once were.   I suspect that the reason we aren’t seeing more readers is…  Take a guess.

There are a lot of factors. But in general, the screen serves as a convenient babysitter for many parents.  And then at school, teachers don’t teach reading writing like they did 100 years ago.  Npt to mention, kid’s are taxed with endless hours in sports.  When is there time to read? 

So what do we need to do?

We need to go back to filling school libraries with books.  And teachers should take the kids to the library for read aloud time.  Parents need to fill their homes with books! A lot of books! 80 plus books.  Say no to screen time until kids are in high school.  Make them play outside.  And put them in one extra curricular activity.  Not 4 or 5. Do your kids like sports? Then put them in sports and skip the music lessons.  Do your kids like Music or Art? Then put them in music or art. And skip the sports.