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Edmonton Journal (Alberta) January 22, 2012 Sunday Final Edition A lament for the future of meaningful reading; Why bother with serious books when Angry Birds is a tap away? BYLINE: Brett Josef Grubisic, Vancouver Sun SECTION: SUNDAY READER; Pg. B9 LENGTH: 1036 words Reading the 21st Century Stan Persky McGill Queens University Press 278 pp; $29.95 In an article about the good deeds of E.D. Hirsch, the recently deceased American cultural literacy superstar Christopher Hitchens dropped alarming findings from a nationwide survey: "The chances of a 17-yearold American being able to say anything meaningful about Thomas Jefferson are disconcertingly slight. The chances of the same student knowing anything significant about Poe, or slavery, or of being able to translate the most elementary Latin . or even being able to define the word 'ironic' are slighter still." Published shortly after Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind and Hirsch's Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, Hitchens' New York Times piece drew references from a 1988 survey. Since the ensuing two decades have witnessed the explosive growth of the Internet and gadgets for every occasion, it is tempting to wonder about the cultural literacy of that former disappointing test-subject's teenage son. A professional philosopher at Vancouver's Capilano University for nearly three decades and the author of more than 20 books that range from sexual politics (Buddies: Meditations on Desire, On Kiddie Porn) to Canadian politics (Fantasy Government, Delgamuukw), Chicago-born Stan Persky has been studying the data. He cannot be labelled an optimist. Persky's latest work - which he calls a "jeremiad, as defined by the writer Brian Fawcett: as accurate a description as possible of the present situation" - expands his impressive range while remaining close to an ever-keen interest in the cultural landscape of the here and now. Page-wise, Reading the 21st Century is dedicated primarily to signifi

Alexa Battey, a student teacher at Southern Alamance High School, looks around the room at her 20 College Prep English seniors. Most of them look bored reading Macbeth which some have even referred to as "MacBoring." Far from the Internet surfing these teens are used to, Macbeth requires interpretation, not just the surface reading these teens have become accustomed to. "The novels seem to be over their heads," Battey said. "They're not used to that type of writing…They're used to things being very basic. Things on the Internet today are easy-reads, just stating the facts and basic details. They're smart, but they're used to things being put in front of them and not having to dig deep."

A slender, chatty blonde who wears black-framed plastic glasses, Nadia checks her e-mail and peruses myyearbook.com, a social networking site, reading messages or posting updates on her mood. She searches for music videos on YouTube and logs onto Gaia Online, a role-playing site where members fashion alternate identities as cutesy cartoon characters. But she spends most of her time on quizilla.com or fanfiction.net, reading and commenting on stories written by other users and based on books, television shows or movies.