Added to the other nonbook devices like films, tapes, television and the popular media, the computer accelerates the atrophy of the intellectual skills acquired for personally reading the books from which the information is extracted. Reading for Bliss Kylene Beers has talked about the evils of aliteracy for so long and so loud, she's losing her voice. Today she's in the lecture hall of Oakton High School bending the ears of 100 or so middle school teachers. If someone graduates from high school and is aliterate, Beers believes, that person will probably never become a habitual reader. Aesthetic is reading for the sheer bliss of it, as when you dive deep into Dostoevski or get lost in Louisa May Alcott.
Aesthetic readers connect emotionally to the story.
Beers believes that more students must be shown the marvels of reading for pleasure. On this late afternoon, she is mapping out strategies for teachers who hope to engage reluctant middle school readers. Teaching grammar and parts of speech, such as dangling participles, is the kiss of death, she says. And the room laughs. Aliteracy, she continues, is no laughing matter.