I am an avid reader. However, I don’t think I would be considered to be a good employee. Reading is associated with knowledge, opinions and the like. In my experience having knowledge and even worse, opinions, are not traits considered optimal by employers, who seem to prefer mindless drones, willing to do whatever they are told, regardless of the morality of what they are being asked to do. Of course, the mindless drones of today are anything but efficient, but efficiency in one might make others feel bad, so efficiency is not a valued trait either. In the end, I believe that only readers value the traits that are nurtured by reading. And so, the ability to read, the love of reading, and the pesky independent streak that reading encourages, will all be squashed.
I am an avid reader. However, I don’t think I would be considered to be a good employee. Reading is associated with knowledge, opinions and the like. In my experience having knowledge and even worse, opinions, are not traits considered optimal by employers, who seem to prefer mindless drones, willing to do whatever they are told, regardless of the morality of what they are being asked to do. Of course, the mindless drones of today are anything but efficient, but efficiency in one might make others feel bad, so efficiency is not a valued trait either. In the end, I believe that only readers value the traits that are nurtured by reading. And so, the ability to read, the love of reading, and the pesky independent streak that reading encourages, will all be squashed.
Thanks for a well written and timely reminder of a growing crisis.
I'm still an avid book reader, but there is also a ton of scientific, historic, and other reading material on line worth indulging in!