Post 19 - NYTimes article

This past week, in the NCTE (National Council for Teachers of English) Inbox e-mail, "The Medium is the Medium", an article from the New York Times, was highlighted. The article discusses two research projects, one from the University of Tennessee, and one from Duke University.

The University of Tennessee research project studied the effect of books in the lives of disadvantages students. Each summer for three summers, students were given 12 books of their choice. Researchers found that students who received the books each summer had higher reading scores on state tests than students who experienced the "summer-slide". Researchers also found that not only did students' reading scores increase, but their attitude toward reading and culture also changed due to the fact that they now had a personal library.

At Duke University, a five year study (from 2000-2005) was performed to look at the impact of the Internet on middle-level students (grades 5-8). This study found that reading and math scores decreased for students with home computers and high-speed access. Both of these studies provide interesting information, especially since the Duke study took place before the rise of Twitter and Facebook, about the effects of literacy, books, and the Internet on student performance.

The article continues to explore the rising ADD culture developing due to hyperlinks and immediate response because of the Internet. It also calls into question the type of society in which we live, one that distinguishes being informed, hip, and cultivated. It seems that the Internet allows one to be informed (as does print) and hip because of the quick availability of news, but books still provide cultivation because of the attitude books present.

One can become informed, hip, and cultivated through books as he/she studies, interacts with, questions, and considers the text within a book. This cultivation, through years of literary genius, allows one to differentiate between minds, greater than one's own, instead of just hearing or reading the norm, as presented by E! News (which is an oxymoron to begin with).

The question then becomes for our society, what do we want; a hip society, a cultivated society, or an informed society? It is possible to have all three without losing a medium, but instead integrating the best aspects of each in order to develop our culture.

If we continue to accept things like E! News or Jersey Shore as cultivating our society, we're going nowhere fast. Instead, we should utilize the power of the Internet with the literary culture, both present and past, to form intellectual thoughts and develop an intellectual society instead of an ADD society just waiting on the newest craze.

Brooks, David. "The Medium is the Medium." The New York Times. 8 July 2010. .