Reading: An indispensable ability for the XXI century citizen. The Mexico case

Abstract

The new world circumstances derived from globalization, economic regionalization, technological development and the generation of unlimited information of great scope, have initiated, at the beginning of the XXI century, what it is so called .The knowledge and information society.. This new society requires more critical people, with better education, and with a greater number of abilities and competences to face the future changes. Under these new perspectives reading is the key to introduce us into the innovative information era. This article states which the future sceneries for reading are and its requirements, according to the new world circumstances. At the same time, the article presents an extended analysis of the problems of reading in the Mexican society, considering relevant data produced by the latest investigations from national and international organizations, such as UNESCO, OCDE, SEP and the National Institution for Educational Evaluation. These investigations revealed, that nowadays, Mexico is a country with scarce number of readers, a country that does not have a reading programme to foment and promote the culture of reading. This is an issue that has not been attended sufficiently and professionally yet.