What Is Reading Good For? Perspectives from Senior Citizens

Abstract

Wolf teaches reading at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The article is based on his doctoral dissertation, The Leisure-Time Reading Behaviors of Persons Sixty-Five Years or Older Living within Homes for the Aged in Kent County, Michigan. ■ Each year money is expended for the research and development of r ading programs. Are such expenditures justified? Isn't the developing of independent and mature readers a purposeless pedagogical clich6 when student interest in TV, film, and radio seems to obviate a strong emphasis on reading programs? Postman (1972) suggests that reading is obsolete and should be replaced by instruction in media communication. He further