According to an article in today’s New York Times by college professor Jonathan Malesic, students no longer read books. He says that in 2011 he assigned nine books to a class, and the students responded to the challenge. Now, given the reluctance to reading, he doesn’t assign any books. He points out that students are often angling for jobs in finance or consulting or tech, and reading isn’t really necessary. In addition, universities don’t promote the idea of humanistic learning. Employment is the goal.
I’ve been out of the college teaching business for about 14 years. I know that students always groaned when required to read The Grapes of Wrath or the rather thick Norton Anthology of American Literature. I’m fairly certain, however, that most of them did most of the assigned reading, and many of them read for pleasure.
I hope Dr. Malesic is exaggerating. I hope colleges are still producing readers. I can’t imagine a life without reading. It would be so shallow and depressing.
When I was at Penn, most clases didn't use textbooks. It was said that textbooks were written for students at Ohio State, and weren't Ohio State. I spent a lot of time reading papers in the reserve library.
ReplyDeleteThey are reading books on their devices, i.e., Kindle, etc.
ReplyDeleteMy stepkids are 15, 13, and about to be 12. They have zero interest in reading. They like TikTok and get their education from YouTube, despite my best efforts to pass on my love of reading and discourage the TikTok/YouTube nonsense. Their grades, especially in English, show their lack of interest in reading.
ReplyDelete