I'm not sure the author actually disagrees with the point of the Atlantic article. She just takes it for granted that her students struggle to read things outside their native vernacular, can't do a close reading of anything longer than a short story, and refuse to read things that they don't find relevant to their personal lives. I'm glad that she's found a way to get her students reading the Odyssey anyway, but that's a bad set of constraints to be working with and it's unsurprising if other teachers have been less successful.