The National Endowment for the Arts released a new report yesterday. Entitled "To Read or not to Read: A Question of National Consequence", the 99 pager combines numerous studies from universities, foundations, business groups, and government agencies. The conclusion: young Americans are reading less than they used to.
Factoids:
Only 30% of 13 year olds read almost every day
Almost half of Americans age 18 to 24 never read books for pleasure
The average American between 15 and 24 spends 2 to 2.5 hours per day watching TV, and 7 minutes reading
Fallout:
Lack of reading causes a steep fall in reading ability. While reading scores for 9 year olds have improved, they dropped sharply for 17 year olds. Only about one third of high school seniors read at a proficient level, a 13 percent decline since 1992.
Think about it. Chinese and Indians are just as hard working as we are, and will accept a tiny paycheck for that work. What advantage do we have over them, if we have the ability to read but refuse to do it? I will not argue that television provides zero useful information, but compare it to reading. This is not a recipe for success in terms of learning.
The researchers note that there is a clear correlation between refusal to read and negative impacts in later life. 72% of employers rated high school graduates deficient in writing, and 38% cited reading deficiency. If you don't know what "deficiency" means, well, tough. You should try reading. Even more telling than this anecdotal stuff is the fact that levels of reading for pleasure correlate closely with levels of social life, voting, political activism, participation in culture and the fine arts, volunteerism, and even regular exercise.
How to foster higher reading activity
It is realism to admit that young people are pulled in many directions by competing interests and activities these days. Reading twenty novels a year outside of school is not going to happen for most of them, no matter what we try. BUT there is so much room for improvement- and it needs to start with infancy. As a parent or grandparent-
model reading- do you smoke while telling your kids not to? Do you avoid books while preaching how great they are?
start young- a 9 month old child will love nothing more at bedtime than sitting on your lap and sharing a picture book. So share! Thus a habit for life begins.
respect individuality- your child has a personality. Respect it. Do not throw books in the hope that one might stick- find the right book for the age, interests, and personality of the child. Why do we pay librarians if you refuse to ask their help?
In the interests of full disclosure, yes I am a public librarian. But honestly, our daughters are A students mostly because they have intellectual curiosity. Much of that curiosity grew out of their reading experiences way back in elementary school. I am not taking credit for molding those girls. But how are kids going to know what is good in life if we do not show it to them?
Remember that reading is not a painful chore. Holes by Louis Sachar, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, or Harry Potter and the sorceror's stone are not the equivalent of overcooked spinach. They are the equivalent of the best of the halloween candy. Do not cheat our nation out of having a future. Do not cheat your child out of the intellectual and emotional joys of the experience of reading.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 20
( Three books a week)
My wife (also a librarian) and I read incessently.
start young- a 9 month old child will love nothing more at bedtime than sitting on your lap and sharing a picture book. So share! Thus a habit for life begins."
Been there done that.
Bottom line - didn't work. I have two kids, 1 middle school and i high school. The older one is an occasional reader but not consistant. The younger one hates to read. Picking up a book ranks right down there with other distasteful chores like taking out the garbage or washing the dishes.
In spite of his distaste for reading, he remains a good student. He earns A's in AP and GT courses. This does make me wonder about the school until I meet and talk to his classmates.
We occasionally have conversations that prompt him to say, " You know everything". This is both an admonishment and a compliment. Mostly it is a reflection of his annoyance that he can't one up me. This also affords me the perfect opportunity to interject, "I know a little about a lot, something about everything and I learned very little of it in school. Most of what I know comes from recreational READING of one sort or another and I started when I was your age." Unfortunatly, it doesn't seem to make a dent.
I must point out that my son is atheletic and popular with his peers, all things that I was not. At a comparable age I was lonely and spent much time alone; reading.
We also did not have the vast wasteland of electronic distraction available We had a TV with three channels
Not that we never see kids who just do not care- we see them pretty often, especially when their parents dump them on us because they do not want to be bothered with them.
The future generation is lost and NCLB is not helping .
We only have the four channels on TV, no cable. Which is why our kids are constantly looking for other outlets, like camping, scouting, bike-riding, and reading. One of their favorite outings is going to the public library every weekend.
Great article!
~~~~~~
The Eyes Have It and Tree Frog Cure
By the end of second grade I was reading everything worthwhile in the eighth grade library as my sister would check them out. Then we'd take turns reading aloud to each other while the other person would wash and dry dishes. I thought she was doing it to share with me but it was really because she wanted help with the dishes. But that's OK, were it not for her I'd never have memorized Kipling's Ballad of East and West or a lot of other things I've read!
To accomplish this today you're going to have to pull the plug on the TV quite a bit. But it is worth the effort! I have five children, all excellent readers, and this is what they grew up with. Reading was the standard entertainment in the home!
You have it exactly right, TV, internet, iPods and cell phones are definitely the bane of good education in this country!
You are right that reading is a skill that makes many things possible. Some have argued that a bigger slice of their knowledge base came from reading than from classroom lecturing- that might be true of me. In terms of time, a practiced reader can read faster than he can listen- and is more likely to avoid being distracted by cute babes or thoughts of lunch!