As a middle school English teacher, I’m seeing the post-literacy process play out in real time. This is never more so dramatic as since the covid lock-downs. My students don’t/won’t read. Their parents don’t/won’t read. The education system is more interested in accommodating students and finding alternatives to long-form reading, offering speech-to-text, text-to-speech, audio books and more. Kids don’t/can’t think anymore. Simply ask an 8th grader, “Why?” to any situation and they cannot even fathom what you’re asking. Despite all this, I fight tooth and nail every school year to get kids to read. I read to them from books and stories to hopeful spark some interest. I introduce new topics in every possible subject to spark some interest. There just isn’t any curiosity on the part of kids today. They don’t want to discover. They want to “google” it. That is all. I’ve never feared for the future more.