The Telegraph reports: An attempt to start a “great debate” about whether printed books would disappear in 10 years and whether reading would be a basic skill had a resounding rebuff yesterday.
None of the 5,500 teachers, academics, employers, parents and pupils who responded to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s “national conversation on the future of English” thought either question worth considering.
How times have changed!
I would wager that, a decade ago, you’d have gotten a fair number of respondents to assert that books would disappear within ten years, or at least be close to disappearing.
Reading as a basic skill is a little different. Even in the crazy early 90s, only a few lunatics were willing to suggest that “reading is hard!” was a plausible motto for the future. There were some, but not many: It’s really hard to turn a legal contract into a movie or other non-textual form and have it make sense!