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I agree with this, but still think the critique must go further, though I have no clear sense of how or where. One obvious difficulty with the question "Why don't kids read?" is that it seems to imply (a) that there is an answer and (b) that there is a single or 'all-purpose' answer. We know the answer for one defined group, those who suffer from dyslexia. It would seem obvious to me that other special answers will be found for other identifiable groups. (I only consider here the question in a slightly expanded form: "Why don't intelligent' kids read?") And Poverty is only a partial answer, since not _all_ poor kids or graduates of poor schools are non-readers. Hence we also need to attempt to specify which attributes of poverty dampen the ability to read, and why this dampening effect does not occur in all cases.
But most important of all, I thin, and one I don't believe has been dealt with in this thread, is the question of whether or not there is any linkage between linguistic and analytic intelligence and reading ability. I would claim that we _can not_ assume that. (Personally, I am convinced that there is no linkage whatever, but evidence for this is also lacking.) SOME rich kids (a) do not suffer from dyslexia and (b) don't read or can't read. Why?
Is there any connection between reading and "critical thinking," whatever that is. Again, I think it can be denied. There are, for example, poor kids who don't read but who have very sharp analytic ability when the exercise of that ability does not call for reading. What evidence is there that verbal & analytic 'intelligence' or competence has a necessary connection with ability to learn to read? What are the mental and physical preconditions for learning to read well? And of course the answers to all these questions have to be compatible with SA's point that reading ability is essentially the same in all advanced capitalist nations. That is, the question can't be raised merely for the U.S. It must be raised for all developed nations.
What I know from teaching for 40 years is that there exist large numbers of students who are very poor readers but perform well intellectually in discussion. That needs explanation as well. And any answer to the question "Why kids don't read?" is incomplete that does not incorporate an answer to the question of "Why do many poor readers possess sharp analytic and verbal skills?"
I think that the question "Why don't kids read?" is an empty question and further to raise the question is to obscure the need to answer other, more real, questiohns.
Carrol