Many students do not have a reading habit?

I am guilty of not reading enough. Even growing up I rarely picked up a book besides a school text book and sit down and start reading. I used to read magazines but that's about where I drew the line. I try to find books that have topics that really interest me that way I can keep focused and interested in the book. I agree that reading skills are lacking and their needs to be an improvement in this area.

Reading should definitely be taken seriously in schools. When I was growing up, we had to read a lot of books during school and I was lucky enough to have a teacher who loved to read. I started reading quite early and have always loved to read. By grade 8, I knew the librarians very well lol (since the local library was right next to my school, I'd go there after school to pick up a book and then walk home). I'm amazed at how little my peers read and how awful their writing is (I'm in university). I think the two are well connected: to be a good writer, you must be an avid reader.

Right if u ask me even i myself have not done throughout my education life, i hate reading, for me i can remember things for a longer time when it is explained by someone, then by reading myself...

I'm a TESOL teacher in Thailand and I can assure you we take the skill of reading very seriously.

Oh jeez, it's gotten even worse since the last thing I heard about this subject O_O I forget what reading level the newspapers are in, but it's definitely not college reading level (think much, much lower)..did you know that there are loads of adults who can't comprehend an article on the front page? It's scary. But most of the world doesn't really care. That's one of the reasons I dislike that woman who's trying to get the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling banned in the U.S.! Those books are read by adults and kids alike, and they're freaking thick books..whatever encourages people to read is good..and heck they're only books..it's definitely not like they're telling children to go out and murder people..(stupid woman thinks they're going to corrupt the kids) Oh no..don't let the kids have books..it'll make them think -_- and I've heard so many parents take away books from their eleven year olds just because it's not on their age-level..how screwed up is that? If the kid truly wants to read the dang thing at four hundred pages, regardless the subject, LET THEM. They honestly, really, need to read because of the large amount of fluff for brains going around. I don't really mean to offend anyone, if they disagree with me, but this is my opinion. The only country that probably doesn't have a problem with this is Asia. Japan, China, Thailand, Korea..they usually have more booksmarts than some of the smartest kids in the U.S. so they don't really have a problem in that area..just..everybody else seems to. Because we don't really seem to take educating our children seriously. Instead we focus on petty matters such as how they dress, banning certain jewelry, whether or not they're full of energy (yeah, just give 'em a pill for that, turn 'em into a zombie. Yeaah..), banning homework..some days it makes me think that people are trying to make the next generation stupid on PURPOSE. Which is an even scarier thought than how many people can't really read today.

Yeah, I was amazed at how many students have really poor literacy skills -- even when I came to university! Parents should put way more emphasis on the importanc of reading. It's such an important skill, and it goes hand in hand with other skills like communication.