Endangered species?

According to Earthday.org we in the middle of the largest period of species extinction in the last 60 million years. It is estimated that extinction rates are 1,000 x 10,000 times what would normally been seen. Here are just six facts they quote on their website:

• 60% of the world’s primate species are threatened
• 650,000 marine mammals are caught or seriously injured by fishing each year
• In Germany, 75% of the insect population has disappeared – and considering 80% of wild plants rely on insects for pollination this is not good news
• 1 in 8 bird species is threatened by extinction
• Tigers, leopards and cheetahs are in critical decline
• 40% of lizard species will be extinct by 2080…if in fact we all live that long!

 
These statistics are shocking, appalling even – and it puts the onus on all of us to do everything we can (from composting to recycling to eating less meat) to stem the tide.
 
But what, you may ask, is the relevance for an author and for you, the book reader?
 
Well, as you may know, I tutor high school student in English. Our new academic year has recently recommenced in New Zealand and so my students are now back with me for help and support after having the summer off. We start by looking at their assessment schedules for the year so I can get a handle on what internal achievement standards they will be tackling for our NZ qualification programme.
 
Here’s the interesting thing: every single student has turned up with an assessment schedule considerably easier than in previous years. Deadlines are longer, the achievement standards being tackled are easier – and in one case, the school are no longer going to read a book as part of their Year 12 curriculum. We go to Year 13 in New Zealand so that’s basically a 17-year old student – or probably Grade 11 in US terms.
 
Giving students longer? Not working their brains so hard? Not reading a book? I find all these trends rather alarming.
 
I presume this change has come about because the attention spans of students has reduced through the dominance of digital technology. Where books are concerned I wonder whether they are so used to watching and interacting in bite-sized chunks that the idea of a forest of pages in book form is now too much.
 
It also makes me wonder whether book readers will become an endangered species and go the way of the dinosaur. Perhaps story will become reduced to a visual medium through downloaded content?
 
Maybe, like the issue of conservation and preservation, the onus is equally on all of us to do everything we can to stem the tide – writing, reading and promoting the wonderful written word. Will you join me?