Books make you smarter than the internet

[pjthompson]

Srsly, I’m not a Luddite, or even a Troglodyte, but here’s my bit of counter-propoganda for the day, taken from Tracy Seeley’s reading blog, “A Grab-Bag of Good Book News:

The second study actually surprised me. It tracked 500,000 kids in grades 5-8, and found that kids with high-speed internet at home are getting lower scores on math and reading tests. That’s a lot of kids logging a lot of hours not reading books.

And this:

Convicted Criminals Get Reading Time Instead of Jail. Judges in eight states now have an alternative to sending offenders to prison. Instead, they put books in their hands and send them to reading groups. I don’t know about you, but this makes my heart leap up. Some participants have never read a book before, and through reading and discussion, their lives really do change. The program more than halves the rate of recidivism, and compared to the cost of throwing people in jail, it’s virtually free. Let’s send a shout of thanks to the program that makes it possible: “Changing Lives Through Literature.”

Go, slow read the rest of the good news…

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Comments

Kill-joy that I am

[marycatelli]

I would have to know more about which criminals the judges are sending off for this program before I put much credence in the rate.

Re: Kill-joy that I am

[pjthompson]

I can only refer you back to the original blog post.

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

ooh, that second one is so interesting!

[pjthompson]

I thought so.