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Reading is the key to learning.

I quite agree and this is where our schools are failing their students. I taught junior high history but a big part of my job was getting the kids to actually read the texts. I had them for three years and by the end of the 8th grade, most, but not all, actually were reading the textbook.

The move to using the internet/smartboad to teach is not doing the kids any favors. It’s not as if the kids are starved of screen time.

They need to be able to read and I tell them that reading is not just calling out words in your head, but the transfer of ideas from the book into your brain—that’s the whole point of reading.

Good points. My sixth grade teacher (easily the best teacher I had in 12 years of public school) had stacks of paperbacks all over the classroom and encouraged us to take them home with us for extra credit. For the extra credit, he would ask us a few questions about the book to make sure we actually read it.

He was a big believer in using books to supplement his history lessons. For instance, he would have us read "Call of The Wild" to learn more about the Gold Rush in Alaska and "Red Badge of Courage" to learn more about the Civil War. He did not want us just memorizing names and dates but also understanding the context of the history he was teaching us.

I doubt either of those books would pass muster in a "politically correct" classroom today - much less an elementary classroom! But those were different times.

When my own children were growing up, Harry Potter books were quite the thing. I encouraged my kids to read them because it got them away from the computer screen for a while. I know a lot here despise the Harry Potter series but it got my children interested in reading on their own so I will always be thankful for that. None of them ever read to the extent that I do but at least they have shelves of books in their own homes and have made reading regularly a part of their lives.