One may lament the closing of some bookstores nationwide., specifically, the closure of big chains such as Barnes and Noble and Borders. The lament may come from the sympathy that may feel for the employees: surely they will lose their jobs. Although a study say that there is a noticeable rise in reading in America- based on e-books purchases through Amazon Kindle and other brands, the difficulty of losing is a job is very disheartening. One can infer that most bookstore employees are introverted and socially awkward. They might consider their work as a fortress, and now such fortress is being corrupted by economic failure, weak sales and steep rent prices. One could hope that they could find a fortress not in the form of unemployment benefits.
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Richard Arum, author of Academically Adrift, posits how college students are not learning from colleges in America. As the Huffingtonpost reports:"The research of more than 2,300 undergraduates found 45 percent of students show no significant improvement in the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years."One might say:"Oh how the mighty have fallen." The US before was King of everything, and now, the US lagging behind its Asian counterparts. Others might say that the cause of this is the dumbing down of Americans. Nevertheless, the US is not the best anymore.
