Wow. I guess cause I am in forties and attempting to make a go of it I should give up now. Hmm. I taught and if anything I remember trying to inspire not rip apart. Still go by mother's golden rule, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing. Trust me I've read some truly awful work and just skipped a comment on it. However if I see even the slightest thing to redeem it, well I will send a personal note to the author suggesting they might want to do x, y, or z. As for reading, it is necessary. I don't think it has to be the classics. Read whatever it is that ignites your passion. Read what excites you. I use to tell parents if their child likes comics then get them comics. The important thing is to read and feed that part of the imagination. The rest you get as you grow older and have to face grim reality of life. Even then most of us would rather dive into our fiction where things turn out a bit better for everyone.
Basically he had some good points but couldn't get at them through the bile.