Are these books, like dickens and shakespeare, just the equivalent of ivanhoe? Are these things that we as a child, as children, loved and enjoyed and profited from, and now, to day's generations, they're just not interested? So really, what's the loss? I think some are in some art. Let me throw out some texts that i don't think are in that category. But let's take another text. What about the declaration of independence? There is a text that recedes farther and farther from us every year because of the archaic nature of its language. It gets harder and harder to read for, well, first a twentieth century and then
Doug Lemov of Uncommon School and co-author of Reading Reconsidered talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about reading. Lemov makes the case for the educational importance of critical reading of challenging books and texts. Along the way, he gives listeners some ideas of how to read themselves and gives parents some ideas for how to educate their children.