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Inmates and Asylums
Southern Appeal — The ever-irascible John Derbyshire over at NRO had a comment in The Corne r that rather surprised me.  Rather than take teens the great books route, he argues that we should give them a sampling in textbooks and readers, but largely concentrate on keeping them ‘engaged.’ Reading for duty is a miserable business, from which little is gained. It’s much better, certainly for teens, to read second-rate stuff that engages one’s attention, than classics that leave you cold. In my own teens I read almost nothing but science fiction. (My son, though not much of a reader, seems ...