Certainly, a large percentage of the population (at least in the USA) never opens a book after school, and I suspect that once they are done with schooling, a great majority of Americans never read anything but light fiction. Part of it is that there are so many attractive and less strenuous alternatives for amusement, and I think part is that in schools we are so focused on memorizing facts and such that few learn to love learning for its own sake (or even for self-improvement when not "required").
As for critical thinking (which I don't think is necessarily the same thing as intellectual discovery in books) are they really beginning to teach it in a significant number of schools? I'd be delighted to be shown it is true, but I'm skeptical, frankly! What's your basis for making that statement?
