How are we doing with our reading?

“’We are doing a better job of teaching kids to read in elementary school.’ said one national expert. ‘But once they enter adolescence, they fall victim to a general culture which does not encourage or reinforce reading. Because these people then read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they do poorly in school, in the job market, and in civic life… This is not a study about literary reading. It’s a study about reading of any sort and what the consequences are of doing it well or doing it badly are. In an increasingly competitive world, the consequences of doing it badly include economic decline…. What are the consequences if American becomes a nation in which reading is a minority activity?'”

From "The Five-Year Party" by Craig Brandon.