By Christian Valles
Every year the number of bookstores in America is decreasing, and this troubles some people. Most parents and teachers have always encouraged reading.
However, most children play Nintendo rather than picking up a book. Bookstores have always been a place where students could get lost for hours. An institution where one could discover ideas and worlds that, to some, were unimaginable.
Recently, county libraries have been cutting back on their hours of operation. The Los Angeles County libraries are places were young people stay out of trouble, but with reduced hours, they have no place to go.
Books are better than computers. They do not need electricity or hard drives, and hold more information. All they need to operate is a reader and an attention span.
Many college students search the Internet for book summaries for their English class and never bother to read the book. A book summary does not give you the intriguing characters, sentence structures and complex plots. Many students just want an easy answer and get back to their social life. They don’t see the consequences of not reading a book.
The Internet has created a world of instant gratification with little or no work. Everything we obtain is just a click away.
To understand literature it takes patience and critical reading skills. Most college students should have these skills.
If they struggle to understand they could always get help from a tutor. The decline of bookstores does not mean that books are going exstinct.
It means that less people will be interested in printed media. The books that are going to be printed will be based on how many units could be sold rather than their value and quality of the book. Literature will become a novelty and plots will become as predictable as Hollywood movies.
Reading not only affects students in classrooms but later on in life. Many people are too embarrassed to admit that they are unable to comprehend what they are reading. Contracts are being signed without any true understanding of the terms and conditions.
Leaving high school does not prepare students for the world anymore. With the trend of bookstores going bankrupt and libraries cutting their hours of operation a bigger decline in reading skills and comprehension will continue.
How can future generations grow if they do not value books? They will not be able to preserve the past or create a future. They will rely on others to tell their stories.