Michael Cox Assignment 1C Summary and Response Section HAMcGough September 16, 2013 Comment Comment by E.B.

White is an article about the dangers of rising technology and the importance of continued literary development. In this article, White stresses the importance of literacy through the description of three main concepts: the abomination that is audio-visual devices will successfully replace the human desire to read, society will be willing to save one person out of a large multitude if that one person is literate, and society will go so far as to provide for a literate persons every need. With these three ideas expressed, White is able to positively stress the necessity of a strong literary backbone. I believe that, in his approach of literariness, White was very successful. He adequately explains the results that will manifest if a person continues to travel down a path of literary improvement. Becoming the center of any society is a goal that many people will attempt to reach throughout their lives. Celebrities, politicians, and famous lawyers are just a few of these such people. Each of the aforementioned careers has something in common with the other two: it requires a certain level of literacy above and beyond that of the common citizen. These careers all have another thing in common: they are all professions to which the general public will watch closely. In his perspective on modern day academia, I do not believe Whites prediction was entirely accurate. While we as students and teachers tend to rely on technology more than we did seventy years ago, I believe that we are also more literate than we were seventy years ago. In this day and age, we have access to innumerable resources that allow us expand our literary horizons in ways that were unthinkable in the 1940s. Such a plethora of information is available at the click of a button via the Internet that very few people have actually gone through life without ever actually acting as a reader. I am certain, therefore, that Whites quoted percentage of 5% of the population actually reading is unfairly low. When discussing literacy and its importance, E.B. Whites Comment stands at the forefront of the discussion. Containing a concern and two possible outcomes of a continued literary path in a short magazine article is an achievement difficult to attain. Even more difficult is creating an argument that will transcend the years and be relevant in 2013 just as it was in the 1940s. I believe Whites article is an excellent reminder of what can be achieved in life through perseverance in education and continued striving towards a self-betterment each and every day. By not only maintaining our current literary standards and abilities, but also improving upon them each and every day, we as human beings will achieve something amazing. We will almost certainly find ourselves in an environment someday in which the common citizens those who decided to forego their literary betterment in favor of technology or some other of lifes pleasures will look up to us and revere us as role models and examples of a better, always attainable tomorrow.