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It's not just our children who hate to read, apparently. Adults don't seem to enjoy it much, either. My dad is from the Baby Boomer generation, and their age group accuses us of not having good attention spans, wanting everything instantly, and depending on other people to teach us everything. Dad's given me the impression that he would prefer that I pick up a book to find out some of the things I want to know instead of shelling out money for a class. Is reading really a lost art? Do we know how to get as much from a book as our parents did? Do the generations of past times know more about actually setting out to learn a skill than the generations of today?
It's not just our children who hate to read, apparently. Adults don't seem to enjoy it much, either. My dad is from the Baby Boomer generation, and their age group accuses us of not having good attention spans, wanting everything instantly, and depending on other people to teach us everything. Dad's given me the impression that he would prefer that I pick up a book to find out some of the things I want to know instead of shelling out money for a class. Is reading really a lost art? Do we know how to get as much from a book as our parents did? Do the generations of past times know more about actually setting out to learn a skill than the generations of today?
You do realize that you are posting in a forum where 100% of the posters come here and READ? We are all ages, backgrounds and live in different parts of the country, but we're all reading......
I volunteered in a school library for 18 recent years. Kids LOVE to read.
And most of the adult I know also love to read... for pleasure even!
Learning a skill and reading are not mutually exclusive, you know.
I can't agree that most kids or adults love to read. I know too many people who never read books, and don't subscribe to a newspaper or magazine. I'll visit relatives who are all college graduates and notice they don't get the local newspaper. My wife has two masters degrees, but has to force herself to read. I can't remember the last time that she finished reading a book. There are some kids who like to read, but they are not in the majority. This minority of people who love to read probably hasn't changed over the past 80-90 years.
The OP pointed asked about comparing older generations to today's generation. I'm in the baby boomer generation being born in 1955. There may be some decline in reading over my lifetime. I was the first generation to grow up with TV. People older than me may have read more because they were not distracted by television. The trouble was, other than the limited number of dusty old books in my local library, it was difficult to find books and purchase books.
Today's youth have smartphones, tablets, laptops, video games, the Internet, social media, streaming video, 100s of TV stations, etc. to distract them from traditional reading. OTOH, there are more resources available today if you want to learn about a specific topic. You can go online and easily find a book on virtually any topic and have it mailed to you or downloaded to your tablet. Or if you don't want to read the book, you can find info on Wikipedia or YouTube. I recently did some plumbing work thanks to a YouTube video.
So my answer to the OP's question of whether the generations of past times know more about actually setting out to learn a skill than the generations of today, I would have to disagree. It is much easier to learn a skill today if you really want to learn a skill. In previous generations, you mostly learned from someone else. The resources that are readily available today were nonexistant even 20 or 30 years ago.
It's not just our children who hate to read, apparently. Adults don't seem to enjoy it much, either.
I work in a school and my colleagues and I have to request that our students NOT read (their novels, usually) when we are in the middle of direct instruction. They love to read! SOME kids do not like to read, but it seems that more DO like to read than do not.
Many adults I know say they wish they had more time to read. Often, getting to read the newspaper, a magazine, or a chapter or two of a book (any of which could be digital or paper), is a luxury. They WANT to read, but often have limited time.
Reading is not solely reading novels. Some people do not like novels, and that's okay! Reading includes reading forums, social media posts, magazines, newspapers, manuals, fliers, textbooks, guides, and a multitude of other media. We "read" pictures, diagrams, graphics, etc., as well.
I think there are just as many people (if not more) who enjoy reading as there are who do not.
... I know too many people who never read books, and don't subscribe to a newspaper or magazine. I'll visit relatives who are all college graduates and notice they don't get the local newspaper.
Long time lurker here, first time poster...
You won't find a newspaper or magazine in my house either, but I read 2 local papers daily. I do not subscribe to the printed, delivered versions of the papers, but I read far more online news sources than ever. I spend a solid hour reading through the CityData boards every morning, and again another hour every evening. I read the Reddit boards regularly. Many of my colleagues are similar, in that they do not get the physical paper delivered; however, they read online news sources.
I personally read 7 300+ page novels this summer. My son read the entire Game of Thrones series.
There are always certain students who try to read the book they are reading while I am teaching other subjects, or those students who prefer to read during recess, rather than play football or tag, or whatever other game kids are playing.
I am with the "schools teach kids to hate reading" crowd.
Most of the books are watered down crap and in the 60s with a significant amount of luck you could find better books than what your teacher was using. I think an excellent book is better than a mediocre book and a mediocre teacher.
But it is certainly curious that we don't have a National Recommended Reading List.
I wish someone had told me about this in high school.
but I have not noticed any economist commenting on it in 30 years.
So mostly you go to school to pay to read the wrong books so not reading is really dumb. But since most books are crap and worse since the 60s most reading is a waste of time.
You won't find a newspaper or magazine in my house either, but I read 2 local papers daily. I do not subscribe to the printed, delivered versions of the papers, but I read far more online news sources than ever. I spend a solid hour reading through the CityData boards every morning, and again another hour every evening. I read the Reddit boards regularly. Many of my colleagues are similar, in that they do not get the physical paper delivered; however, they read online news sources.
I personally read 7 300+ page novels this summer. My son read the entire Game of Thrones series.
There are always certain students who try to read the book they are reading while I am teaching other subjects, or those students who prefer to read during recess, rather than play football or tag, or whatever other game kids are playing.
I should've been more specific when I used the word "subscribe." I read three local newspapers and several national papers such as the NYT, Washington Post and WSJ. One of the local papers has a limit on how many articles you can read online without a subscription, so I have an online subscription. Another only publishes a few articles online, so that is all I read. The other allows you to read most of the paper online but I usually pick up a paper copy at a local store. I also have an online subscription to the NYT. My inlaws don't get a paper copy or have online subscriptions to any newspapers.
I understand what you mean by "certain students who try to read the book they are reading while I am teaching other subjects." These are the avid readers who have always existed. I'll bet these students are less than 10% of your class. My experience is there is a much higher percentage of students who will freely express, "I hate reading."
A lot of folks I know simply do not read much. I read these forums throughout the day and it is both educational and participatory. I also frequently read the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the National Review. I don't read a lot of gossip/pop culture. I do read books, but less frequently than I did growing up, as I don't much care for fiction and a lot of nonfiction information is available for free on the internet, or by the time something makes it to the book store, is already old news.
My experience is there is a much higher percentage of students who will freely express, "I hate reading."
And my experience was that the kids who said that really did not hate reading... they instead hated what they were required to read. They loved to read what interested THEM, not what was assigned.
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I work in a school and my colleagues and I have to request that our students NOT read (their novels, usually) when we are in the middle of direct instruction. They love to read! SOME kids do not like to read, but it seems that more DO like to read than do not. 
