End of Ethnic Studies ?

At one time, people could learn about European, African and Indian culture through the enjoyment of reading. I always had books around the house, read to my children and they would often see me reading. I had hopes of encouraging my children to read. Their school started a program called “Accelerated Reading” or AR. They were encouraged to read by getting rewards. As a result, they started to look at reading as a task or a chore for which they got paid, not as an enjoyable hobby that has its own rewards Then we got a computer. Since then the only books they have read are the Harry Potter books. By the time I was their age I read Dickens, Austen, Hardy, Shakespeare, Flaubert, Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov, and many more that I just can’t remember right now. I thought of reading as a treat, a doorway into a world in which anything could happen and I never knew what to expect. Now my kids get that experience by playing video games.