I don't think the Onion cannot make this stuff up!From Reading to children at bedtime: ABC questions value of time-honoured practice | DailyTelegraph:
THE ABC has questioned whether parents should read to their children before bedtime, claiming it could give your kids an “unfair advantage” over less fortunate children.“Is having a loving family an unfair advantage?” asks a story on the ABC’s website.“Should parents snuggling up for one last story before lights out be even a little concerned about the advantage they might be conferring?”The story was followed by a broadcast on the ABC’s Radio National that also tackled the apparently divisive issue of bedtime reading.“Evidence shows that the difference between those who get bedtime stories and those who don’t — the difference in their life chances — is bigger than the difference between those who get elite private schooling and those that don’t,” British academic Adam Swift told ABC presenter Joe Gelonesi.
Gelonesi responded online: “This devilish twist of evidence surely leads to a further conclusion that perhaps — in the interests of levelling the playing field — bedtime stories should also be restricted.”Contacted by The Daily Telegraph, Gelonesi said the bedtime stories angle was highlighted by the ABC “as a way of getting attention”.Asked if it might be just as easy to level the playing field by encouraging other parents to read bedtime stories, Gelonesi said: “We didn’t discuss that.”
That would be "blaming" the parent who does not read to their kids. Perish the thought. As one reader notes, "The fact that people like this are given a respectful hearing, rather than being run out of polite company, is a sad commentary on our cultural decline."