This is scary stuff (reading)

[Burgold]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111801415.html

A Troubling Case of Readers' Block

Citing Decline Among Older Kids, NEA Report Warns of Dire Effects

By Bob Thompson

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, November 19, 2007; Page C01

Americans are reading less and their reading proficiency is declining at troubling rates, according to a report that the National Endowment for the Arts will issue today. The trend is particularly strong among older teens and young adults, and if it is not reversed, the NEA report suggests, it will have a profound negative effect on the nation's economic and civic future.

"This is really alarming data," said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. "Luckily, we still have an opportunity to address it, but if we wait 10, 20 years, I think it may be too late."

Titled "To Read or Not to Read," the report is a significant expansion of the NEA's widely cited 2004 study, "Reading at Risk." The NEA based that earlier study exclusively on data from its own arts surveys, and as a result, that analysis focused mainly on so-called literary reading -- novels, stories, plays and poems. This led some critics to downplay its implications.

The new report assembles much more data, drawing on large-scale studies done by other government agencies (such as the Department of Education) and by non-government organizations. These studies tend to use broader definitions of reading, said Sunil Iyengar, the NEA's director of research and analysis, with many looking at "all kinds of reading," a category that includes reading done online.

The story the numbers tell, Gioia said, can be summed up in about four sentences:

"We are doing a better job of teaching kids to read in elementary school. But once they enter adolescence, they fall victim to a general culture which does not encourage or reinforce reading. Because these people then read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they do more poorly in school, in the job market and in civic life."

[Raub]

I'd react to the article, but I got tired of reading it after the first paragraph.

[MonkFan8]

True to form, I used to really enjoy reading for fun when I was a kid, and I honestly think I still would. However, the one thing that absolutely killed reading for me was the induction of "summer reading". What a way to ruin the fun of reading by being essentially forced to read a set of hand picked books, over the summer no less.

I'd venture to guess that had summer reading not been such a stringent policy, that I would read a lot more than I do today.

[Stophovr6]

Interesting. My parents told me when I was in high school that one of the questions both of them asked interviewees was the name of the last book they read. They both told me to be prepared for that question. I've never been asked it once during an interview.

[Burgold]

As we grow more and more illiterate (note the increasing number of Dallas fans) our work and ability to suceed in every arena will diminish. Our future is in doubt unless we get our collective asses in gear. I blame absentee parents more than anything for this.

[SC3]

haha, saw that coming

Anyhow, I myself am watching less TV and reading more online than before the the Internet became popular.

[Burgold]

True to form, I used to really enjoy reading for fun when I was a kid, and I honestly think I still would. However, the one thing that absolutely killed reading for me was the induction of "summer reading". What a way to ruin the fun of reading by being essentially forced to read a set of hand picked books, over the summer no less.

I'd venture to guess that had summer reading not been such a stringent policy, that I would read a lot more than I do today.

That makes a lot of sense to me. I have always loved reading, but rarely enjoyed assigned reading, especially in school.

[Stophovr6]

The movie "Idiocracy" almost seems prophetic at this point.

[twa]

Not true for my bunch(we likely read too much),but I agree it is a common problem.

[The Guru]

True to form, I used to really enjoy reading for fun when I was a kid, and I honestly think I still would. However, the one thing that absolutely killed reading for me was the induction of "summer reading". What a way to ruin the fun of reading by being essentially forced to read a set of hand picked books, over the summer no less.

I'd venture to guess that had summer reading not been such a stringent policy, that I would read a lot more than I do today.

QFT

[maxiumone]

Some interesting stats. The intriguing one is that reading comprehension has soared with nine year olds. So they read less and understand more.

Guess the smaller amount of info means more **** stays in the skull

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ikcf3Iq9HqsQTzx1PU11AJ3LWy3wD8T0I0180

_ In 2002, only 52 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24, the college years, read a book voluntarily, down from 59 percent in 1992.

_ Money spent on books, adjusted for inflation, dropped 14 percent from 1985 to 2005 and has fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s.

_ The number of adults with bachelor's degrees and "proficient in reading prose" dropped from 40 percent in 1992 to 31 percent in 2003.

Some news is good, notably among 9-year-olds, whose reading comprehension scores have soared since the early 1990s.

[Zguy28]

Heck with all of the reading college requires (its impossible to read all of the assigned text word for word), people get burned out. Plus, everybody is writing books nowadays. The shelves are flooded with junk. Just look up George Washington on Amazon and see how many hits you get.

[OrangeSkin]

Excuses, excuses...summer reading, assigned reading, too many books.

Stop with the nonsense and just admit that you're too lazy or your attention span is too short to finish a book.

[moviedude25]

This is obvious.

Schools back in the day didn't take a wimpy hands off, everyone feel good approach that schools employ today. Some schools are taking away validictorian and other honor awards because they don't want to have winners and losers any more. In the old days kids weren't given a free ride to not work hard like they are today. The baby boomer generation started this approach and now its continued by the growing number of parents who enable there kids to slack off and don't demand they work hard. In the real world there are Winners and Losers regardless of what the schools say today. They are only hurting the kids

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

This is obvious.

Schools back in the day didn't take a wimpy hands off, everyone feel good approach that schools employ today. Some schools are taking away validictorian and other honor awards because they don't want to have winners and losers any more. In the old days kids weren't given a free ride to not work hard like they are today. The baby boomer generation started this approach and now its continued by the growing number of parents who enable there kids to slack off and don't demand they work hard. In the real world there are Winners and Losers regardless of what the schools say today. They are only hurting the kids

This is kinda in conflict with the mandatory summer reading theory.

[Raub]

I don't think we can discount the effects of the Internet. The whole "lol, omg, wtf, cuz, cya" trend has bred a generation that is too lazy to even type complete words. How can we expect them to actually read novels?

[KingGibbs]

Let's see here.

Video games-check

Internet-check

Text messaging-check

MP3 player-check

Does this report really surprise anyone? Kids and adults have become slaves of technological gadgets.

[RLeVan]

I really don't buy the short attention span bit explanation with regard to not reading more. I have a very short attention span. I get around it by reading 5-6 books at a time. Let me explain because that may sound confusing. It started because every book has a slow point in it, at least to me anyways. When I would hit a slow or boring part, I would pick up another book and start reading it. Normally after a couple of days, I would get refreshed and start reading the first book again. I try to spread the subjects of the books I read across a wide number of topics so I have a choice to read what I'm in the mood for. It's kinda like hitting pause on the DVD and coming back to it after you've gotten a bite to eat.

I'm not saying this could work for everybody, but it works for me. Unless it's a really great book, I won't read it cover to cover without reading parts of another book in the interim. It may sound like I do nothing but read books all day, but that's not the case. For one, I don't care how fast I read a book unless I borrowed it from someone and they want it back. I'll only read about 20-30 pages a night, nothing special. It's enough to keep me hooked on the story line and allows enough memory retention to pick it up a week later at the next paragraph.

I tend to pawn off my current events to the internet nowadays, with the exception of a major story in which I'll revert back to reading the Post. Whoops, here I meant a post to encourage people who don't read too much an alternative and I've rambled on. I hate it when that happens.

[Burgold]

This is obvious.

Schools back in the day didn't take a wimpy hands off, everyone feel good approach that schools employ today. Some schools are taking away validictorian and other honor awards because they don't want to have winners and losers any more.

I really think blaming the schools is too easy and mostly wrong. When I was a youngster, there was no Summer Reading demands, but I read voraciously. Why? One, my father was an avid reader and I saw him modeling the behavior. We got to the point eventually of reading and then passing off books to each other. Two, reading and education were really high priorities in the household. There needs to be a culture of reading at home. Grades are only one small carrot, especially during the Summer months.

Parents need to recognize and take a role in their kid's education. I'd bet if we did an analysis, we'd find that the decrease in reading, reading comprehension, and reading frequency falls right along those tracks. When the kids are cute and little (say up to 9) more parents pay attention. Afterwards, the kids are expected to do it on their own.

The other person who needs to blamed is the reader themselves. The locus of control in your life is you. You choose to read or do other things. Blaming the school or liberal hippy parents is too easy and more importantly, making excuses get you nowhere.

[Xameil]

My daughter loves to read...ok shes not even 2 yet but she loves it. She always yells read and book, then goes to get one of her books from the shelf . Alot of times she actually tries to read the book herself more then letting me read to her.

[LD0506]

I really think blaming the schools is too easy and mostly wrong. When I was a youngster, there was no Summer Reading demands, but I read voraciously. Why? One, my father was an avid reader and I saw him modeling the behavior. We got to the point eventually of reading and then passing off books to each other. Two, reading and education were really high priorities in the household. There needs to be a culture of reading at home. Grades are only one small carrot, especially during the Summer months.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

This is the essential point of the whole thing. You cannot just tell your children to read, it's good for them, blah blah blah and then flop on the couch with the remote. Children need to be shown the love of reading at an early age. It is one of the most critical skills anyone can offer a child.

I am right in the middle of teaching my son to read and his interest was sparked by seeing his mother and me reading ourselves, crawling into our laps to follow along (in his own way). Might seem sappy to some but last week when he got one of his books and read it to me by himself it was a golden moment.

[VASkins540]

I really don't buy the short attention span bit explanation with regard to not reading more. I have a very short attention span. I get around it by reading 5-6 books at a time. Let me explain because that may sound confusing. It started because every book has a slow point in it, at least to me anyways. When I would hit a slow or boring part, I would pick up another book and start reading it. Normally after a couple of days, I would get refreshed and start reading the first book again. I try to spread the subjects of the books I read across a wide number of topics so I have a choice to read what I'm in the mood for. It's kinda like hitting pause on the DVD and coming back to it after you've gotten a bite to eat.

I'm not saying this could work for everybody, but it works for me. Unless it's a really great book, I won't read it cover to cover without reading parts of another book in the interim. It may sound like I do nothing but read books all day, but that's not the case. For one, I don't care how fast I read a book unless I borrowed it from someone and they want it back. I'll only read about 20-30 pages a night, nothing special. It's enough to keep me hooked on the story line and allows enough memory retention to pick it up a week later at the next paragraph.

I tend to pawn off my current events to the internet nowadays, with the exception of a major story in which I'll revert back to reading the Post. Whoops, here I meant a post to encourage people who don't read too much an alternative and I've rambled on. I hate it when that happens.

haha, I can definitely relate to this. I thought I was the only one who read a handful of books at a time . Reading is one of my favorite things to do, but it's really difficult to find books that can hold my interest all the way through, so I always end up driving over to Borders and picking up something fresh every couple weeks. Once I find a good one though, you'd do well to pry me away from it.

[RLeVan]

Along the lines of boring summer reading assignments, I never thought of reading as a chore. Sure, there were some books that really weren't up my alley and that's why I mentioned reading a couple books at a time. The boring books, if I read them a bit at a time became interesting as long as it wasn't the only thing I was reading. The main reason most people hate reading is because they put it off till the last minute and then it does suck.

For the OP's with infants who are trying to read, all I can say is Bravo! It's amazing what the youngin's pick up when you read to them and how quickly they grasp it. That's one of the most precious moments you can have. I know, I have a 2yo nephew that's grasping words and loves books.

[RLeVan]

haha, I can definitely relate to this. I thought I was the only one who read a handful of books at a time . Reading is one of my favorite things to do, but it's really difficult to find books that can hold my interest all the way through, so I always end up driving over to Borders and picking up something fresh every couple weeks. Once I find a good one though, you'd do well to pry me away from it.

At least someone reads the way I do. Most people I speak to can't understand how I do it. It's easy, I grab a stack of bookmarks from the bookstore and hit the local library. It does help to have different bookmarks for each book unless it's a paperback and then I dog ear that pages (l don't do that with library books:) )

For example, I read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Great story but almost as bad as reading the unabridged version of Les Miserables. I hit a long winded section, pick up The Rule of Four, a quick and easy read. Kinda like the Count of Monte Cristo, light reading.

[gbear]

I wonder for teenagers whether they count blogs and message board postings as reading and writing?

I know I hadn't written a thing for years outside of work before I started posting on message boards. While I'm still no word smith, I do think my writing has improved simply from posting on this board and in my blog. I know many people's writing has improved on this board over the years, and maybe that's a result of them thinking differently.

I know they said they didn't count or measure internet reading/writing, so they do recognize this measure they may be missing. As for the accronym hell that comes from text messaging, don't discount it. It's English. It may not be proper English, but how many of us were told "Aint" isn't a word because it's not in the dictionary while we were growing up? It's there now. It's still not proper English, but it comunicates an idea just fine.

Peronally, I wish more people wrote more. A study on writing is one I would like to see, as I tend to think the ability to write is often a better indicator of how productive a person will be. That ends my pop analysis. (Note I said nothing about spelling or typing :doh: )