I will never give up my books.

With America's literacy rates plunging down the tubes, I can see how an article like this, http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14823087/?GT1=8717 , could be conceived, and perhaps even be carried to fruition on the msnbc homepage. However, my strict emotional reaction to the above, was "WHAAAAAAAAA?"

Seriously though, this feels very much like a GRE writing topic that gets bandied about a lot.
"Instead of requiring students to take courses in a variety of disciplines—that is, courses ranging from the arts and the humanities to the physical and biological sciences—colleges and universities should allow students to enroll only in those courses that will help prepare them for jobs in their chosen fields. Such concentration is necessary in today's increasingly work-oriented society"

Baby out with the bathwater anyone? Yes, finding a vocation is important. And yes, there might be a surplus of jobs in today's technologically mediated society that do not require expository skills. But to say that reading should be treated as a luxury, something extra, is too extreme of a view.

From the article - "But just as every citizen is not forcibly trained to enjoy classical music, neither should they be coerced into believing that reading is necessarily pleasurable. For the majority of students, reading and writing are difficult enterprises with limited payoffs in the modern world."

This was a telling passage for me. Here, reading is equated with music, a form of art. Art is severely underfunded in our educational system. Someone arguing against funding arts programs could merely switch out "reading and writing" in the 2nd sentence with painting, modern dance, ballroom, etc... Music/Dance/Visual Art programs are receiving less and less money every year. Are literary classes going to head down this route as well? I sincerely and fervently hope not.

We need the arts, and that includes reading and writing of all sorts. People joke about going to college b/c they don't know what they're going to do with their lives. I have so many friends who were in that boat, until they read something amazing in college that opened up new intellectual vistas. Yours truly now wishes to be an English professor, something that wouldn't have even crossed my mind before the boatloads of reading in college.

I could see one arguing that reading could still be considered a luxury, something for intelligensia/academics. But that standpoint completely disregards the enriching effect that reading has. So if reading is a luxury, it should be one that we strive for continuously.