Something depressing, something maybe amusing

[altivo]

The NEA has issued the results of another study on the decline of reading in the US. It's not pretty, nor is it very hopeful.

Summary available here.

Now for the good part, which should get a laugh even though it has a worrisome issue buried in it. On Friday evening at MFF, a small group of us who went out for dinner made a stop afterwards at a Meijer's (big box type store) to pick up some painkiller and cold medicine for a furry friend. While we were in the store, a little girl about five or six perhaps spotted the fact that I was wearing my tail.

I heard her ask, "Daddy, why does that man have a tail?"

Her father answered, "Because he's a fox."

She wasn't satisfied. The next question was, "Daddy, WHY is he a fox?"

I don't think she got any further answer to that, as he quickly steered her away from us. It would just be amusing, except that my tail is a horse tail. Not knowing the difference between a horse and a fox by the look of their tails seems like a pretty bad case of city-itis to me. No wonder we find that people have no respect for wildlife or animals any more.

Comments

thanks for sharing

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

Maybe this reflects what would be the outcome in many first world countries if they made a similar survey - the exception would Finland and Iceland

Re: thanks for sharing

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm very much afraid it does reflect either the current situation or the situation shortly to come in most of them. Finland might indeed be an exception and there may be a few others.

The problem, I fear, is penetration of the "cool media" just as McLuhan predicted. You'll notice that the study found that typical US teens spend 8 to 16 times more of their free time watching television than they do on reading of any sort.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I blame the drop in literacy on the long hours culture. I noticed a sharp drop in the amount of reading I have done (of books, rather than webpages) since I left University, and started the world of work.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

While you and I may feel that pressure, the study in this instance focused heavily on school age kids, mostly under 20. I think the decline in reading is a result of social pressure and distractions that require less mental effort, such as television, movies, and videogames. In the US at least, reading is viewed as nerdish and weird.

[linnaeus.livejournal.com]

Maybe he was using the word "fox" in the slang sense, and was just telling his daughter that he found you attractive? :)

Not sure how even a city dweller could mistake a horse tail for a fox tail, though. Don't people watch cartoons anymore?

Re: thanks for sharing

[linnaeus.livejournal.com]

I read every day when I was growing up in the '70s and '80s, but it's hard for me to judge how typical my experience was for the time as I was a colossal nerd. Perhaps the really bookish kids got beaten up on the way to take the survey and arrived too late to participate... :)

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Ah. It was a survey of young people, was it? I did not realise this; ironically because I did not read the article. :D

I was a very keen reader when I was younger. Mainly because TV did not cater for my tastes. The most obvious manifestation of the derth in literacy can probably be found in the way that young people speak and write. It's a shame, but given the IQ of the chavs I frequently overhear throwing bottles around the City centre at night, hardly susprising.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

By the way...a photo of you wearing your tail would go down well here. ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Uhh... Have you looked at any "modern" cartoons? They're all full of things like Pokemon and Transformers. You won't learn much about animals from them, or at least, not wildlife type animals. Even Warner Bros. felt it necessary to recast their old standby characters to modernize them. When they got done, the results were hardly recognizable as having any connection to real life animals.

It would be even more amusing if the guy had been finding me attractive, but I'm quite confident that the reverse was true. ;p

[delphinelicorne.livejournal.com]

Now, that still not answers the question: WHY are you a fox? :p

Re: thanks for sharing

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

is reading not a must for homework anymore - I am out of the loop on just what is required of school children in terms of work alone projects.

BTW - I enjoyed your tale of a tail
;O)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I don't carry a camera around, unfortunately. As photos are posted from the con, I'm sure some will turn up with me in them. I'll let you know when I find any.

I've got a whole stack of photos here that were taken at the library last Thursday, but almost all have kids in them. After a recent fuss we had over taking photos of children "without a model release signed by their parents" I don't dare post any of those, even without names attached.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fox. I guess the guy was too near-sighted to tell the difference.

Re: thanks for sharing

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The emphasis on reading as an element of education seems to be declining. Much of the pressure is for "computer literacy" which appears to be defined as "using Google and a web browser". Based on my observation of the kids who come to the library to use our computers, that means looking at pictures, not reading, even for the secondary school students.

Occasionally they also use our computers to type and print their assignments. You don't want to hear my rant on the lack of quality in those efforts. Writing a grammatically correct sentence eludes many of them. Writing a coherent paragraph is beyond nearly all of them, even the high schoolers.

[corelog.livejournal.com]

Of course, you do remember that my wolf tail was called by several different people, "squirrel", "horse", and "rabbit".

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Your fortunate you got the kind foxtail comment.

Usually you'd get "He's a bad man, he eats little
girls and probably has been on To Catch A Furry on
MSNBC like we watch every night. Hurry now little
one, lets leave this odd freak to his drug search"

Personally? I'd have told her to pull your tail
and see what you say.

XD

Re: thanks for sharing

[altivo.livejournal.com]

My experience from kindergarten right through college graduation was that, yes, the really bookish kids get beaten up and otherwise tortured and bullied. :\

I don't think there have ever been enough of them to skew a study like this, though. The difference is that today it takes a lot less to qualify as "really bookish."

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Please don't reply that you'd just fart.

XD

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I had forgotten about that. At least a squirrel is an animal they probably have seen live and up close. No one thought you were a fox? Looking only at the tail, I can well believe that many people couldn't tell wolf from coyote from fox, even with the obvious color differences.

In fact, at a historic recreation last summer I stumbled into a tent filled with (ack) fur trading stuff. They had many real tails hanging in bundles, and even I had trouble making that distinction. But a horse looks like almost nothing else, and even if they only ever saw a horse on television westerns, they should be able to see the connection.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

ROFL!

[corelog.livejournal.com]

And where, pray tell, would they have seen a squirrel in Vancouver?

It is at least possible that they've seen a squirrel, I will allow. And no, no one thought I was a fox. Apparently the common psyche doesn't recognize black or dark colors as a potential fox tail.

Of course, the one that really got me was the one person who squealed, "Oh, look! You're a RABBIT!"

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Ah..the age of the Paedophile paranoia is not just a British phenomenon then.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

She wasn't satisfied. The next question was, "Daddy, WHY is he a fox?"

That's cute. ^_^

But yeah, I agree - how could ANYONE possibly confuse a horse tail and a fox tail? o.o

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No, I'm afraid it isn't. In fact, it is probably much, much worse over here than it is on your side of the pond.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Vancouver has no squirrels? o.O

Here we have squirrels and pigeons in even the most heavily concretized and high-risen of cities. Kids might not know what a cow's feet look like, but they do know squirrel, rat, and pigeon.