I do wonder how accurate a study made over a decade ago is. How much of it was based on a predetermined result of thinking? I find more young'uns go browsing through the stacks at my place and are continually finding volumes that interest them. And not esoteric ones but many of the same ones that were required reading when I was less jaded and gray.

Sorry, but when teens are discovering Twain, Orwell, Sinclair or even Steinbeck for the first time from somebodys stash outside of school, it's a little hard to blame "modern media and all the access to it".

Those that had heard of them were usually forced to read it like a textbook instead of a story. They were told what it means, the history of it, how to interpret it, and graded on how well they absorbed the approved data. Cripes, if I learned to read the classics that way I would have hated it too!

On a lovely side note, I got an official request from an English teacher to quit "allowing the children coming over to browse the shelves without proper supervision" and using said books found in class reports on literature. Apparently the teacher had some issues with a few papers on The Jungle, 1984 and Letters From Earth. Said that children (these "children" are around 15) should not be exposed to the themes, thoughts and situations those types of books show. It would confuse them and could cause trouble.

Heh, I though a good chunk of lit WAS to cause trouble in one form or another. Seems that is something they are trying to take out and yet that is something that really attracts someone to reading when young.