Hello Grammarians,

I was a bit astounded today when one of my freshman writers announced in class that there has been a "paradigm shift" from reading books to viewing films and other visual texts as a means of acquiring knowledge. This was immediately after I took an informal poll to ask how many class members read books. (Only 2, including myself, raised their hands). I was impressed with the student's insight, but also wondered if this related to his poor writing skills and the writing skills which seem to be lacking in other students who don't "read." I'm not really trying to discuss the relationship of reading and writing so much on the grammar list, but rather the usage of "paradigm shift." I've always struggled with terms like this and also with terms such as "agency" which are buzz words in academia, but used in so many different contexts that their meaning becomes fuzzy to me after a while. Any thoughts? (About "agency" or "paradigm shift"?)

Thank you!

Carol