Ian Dillon Assignment 1C Summary and Response Section HA McGough September 18, 2013 Comment Higher education, especially

y college, has always been considered the pinnacle of American learning, but with the introduction of technology into the collegiate system the system has to adapt to the ever-growing technological presence. This essay will contain a summary of Comment by E.B. White, which first appeared circa 1940, followed by a response to the work. White posits that the number of readers will rapidly diminish and that those who still read will become like rulers to those who have forgotten the age-old craft. E.B. Whites Comment had and has continuing merit as the technological world we live continues on the path that it is on now. The excerpt contains a passage stating Whites and others concern over the future of reading in schools and colleges. He even references a college president that had claimed; only five per cent [sic] of the people will be reading. He goes on to denote the impact that one reader out of 150 million people would have and makes an analogy on its similarity to the hierarchy of a beehive, with the reader being the queen bee. The last line posits that those who are not readers will treat the readers like they are kings and queens. Personally there are points that I agree with and disagree with in this passage. I agree that academically and recreationally we are moving away from reading as the main way that we acquire information. Modern technology has given us plenty of options to experience the collection of information, whether it is on T.V., radio, or YouTube videos. We even have the option to listen to books rather than to read them for ourselves. So while the content of information may be consistent, we have options now that can bypass the sometimes-lengthy process of reading and get the information as quickly as possible. I think that White was aware of this fact, although I doubt he expected the continuation and worsening of the lack of reading problem would increase at the rate that it has given the exponential nature of technological growth. I am certain that there has been a decline in the amount of reading that takes place, both for leisure and for academic purposes. I knew people in high school who were proud to claim that they had never finished a book, so there are certainly people out there who are failing to read. However, I do not think that it is happening at quite the rate the Comment claims. While the vast majority of Americans and people around the world may not be reading, I still believe that it is more than five percent of the people in the world that are reading. Eventually the number of readers may decline to this point, but not in the near future.

Whites claim about the reader being the center of the university is rather outdated. Universities now are vastly complex organizations that require thousands of people to run and operate smoothly and while the students are hopefully all readers that does not necessarily make it the foundation of the university. With the job specialization that we see today, some majors and career programs are much less reading heavy than others and in order to reflect the modern diversity of our job market we cannot base the university solely on the reader. The analogy of the beehive is a very strong analogy; it is not accurate however. While the Last Reader, as White calls it, would most likely have a good bit more book knowledge than those who did not read, life is not all about book knowledge. With this analogy it seems that White is claiming that academic knowledge is the key to the world, which I disagree with. While being intelligent and being learned is beneficial in being successful it is not the only tool. It is also important to be able to recognize peoples emotions and have social knowledge, which cannot be taught by books. So despite being the Last Reader and obtaining all of this academic knowledge, someone who has an equivalent amount of knowledge in social matters is just as important to society as the reader. White tries to downplay the nonacademic aspects of knowledge and I think it inhibits his argument because it is very limiting to the power of people. Overall I believe that Whites Comment certainly applies and contains merit to application to todays society. I also believe that some of his points were extrapolations and one-sided views of the way that humanity operates and what society values as far as knowledge and intelligence goes. The main idea of the excerpt, that we as a society are reading less and that it could possibly be detrimental to our society, certainly holds true for today and most likely will continue to hold true as technology continues to advance past its current level.