A growing number of college professors at elite universities are reporting the same phenomenon: incoming college freshmen have never read an entire book.
Reading a book seems antiquated and eccentric to a generation conditioned from the age of four to manipulate information on an iPhone. I teach, and increasingly students carry Chromebooks from class to class the way we used to carry textbooks. Everything is online.
They don’t know what they are missing handling a real book.
Erick, this is no big deal. Donald Trump never read a book before college, during college, or after college. Despite this, he has been elected POTUS once and may be again. Reading is over-rated.
I went to visit my high school during our 50 year reunion. They don’t even have a library there anymore. I still remember the visits to the bookmobile in elementary school. I love to read books. They take you to a fantasy place and time or to someplace and time that is absolutely real. I can’t imagine not wanting to read a book.
I'm not going to argue about how poor Common Core was but as a retired teacher who taught through that period of time (prior to and after) and had thousands of students who went on to college and were very successful (Ga Tech, UGA, Penn, MIT, Vanderbilt, etc.) the problem wasn't Common Core, it was teachers teaching down to the bottom of Common Core. I taught "real math", all levels, so I taught well above the requirements of Common Core. That also meant my students consistently scored at the top on the standardized tests. I knew teachers who only taught to the requirements of Common Core because "that is what my students are required to know". I taught well above that, and I've already shared the results. The same is true in English. The teachers who had high expectations had students who continued to do well. Those who taught down to the minimum had students who only met the minimum. So, as has always been the case, it's the teachers and their level of expectation that really mattered.
I have been retired for 18 years. Before I retired, I was painfully aware that people just graduated from college, let alone high school, were unable to read or write with any level of competency. And the type of writing in my line of work was what I consider to be the simplest form. Reports. Detailed reports, in chronological order of a variety of types of incidents. And the most basic part of the report was "who, what, when, where, how, and why". Very few could even accomplish a report with those factors included, let alone with proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. So hearing now that young people don't know how to read an entire book is not in the least surprising.
I have to step in here. Your being to general. Common core is not as common as it was. At least in ga. The school superintendent of GA is anti common core.
So it’s not every kid.
The message should instead be despite what school teaches you need to train your kids in addition to school.
My daughter is cultured and knows what and how to read. She read the narnia books cover to cover. And some of the wizard of oz.
It’s too bad she’s not as interested in books like weathering heights and that but she has her way of reading and taking notes on books.
She didn’t learn that in school. She learned it from her tutor and me. Now she is AP ELA AP math and is taking statistics in HS. Something I never did. (I hate math).
Point being be your child’s teacher. If your school pushes common core then learn it so you can help your student when they ask and be there to enhance upon it. That’s what I did. Now my daughter and I speak our own language when it comes to school.
I don’t know the solution that is 100% perfect but you can’t just give up either.
There are two political commentators / writers in the US I respect above the rest. Erick is one, John Kass the other. I would not normally provide a link to one on the others site, but the article written by Kass today is not only brilliant in terms of what is going on in my once great city (I have relocated to Atlanta and will never look back), but relevant to Erick's article. Erick, not sure if you are familiar with Kass, but he left the Chicago Tribune when they turned woke, and now has a podcast and a post. Hope it is ok to share the link, I believe you would fully enjoy his perspective as he would enjoy yours.
Common Core was horrible and provided for a miserable education when I was teaching. Sad to see nothing has changed. I felt really sorry for the math teachers.
It's just another anecdote of a collapsing civilization and a society in terminal decline.
Welcome to "de-civilization".
Reading a book seems antiquated and eccentric to a generation conditioned from the age of four to manipulate information on an iPhone. I teach, and increasingly students carry Chromebooks from class to class the way we used to carry textbooks. Everything is online.
They don’t know what they are missing handling a real book.
Erick, this is no big deal. Donald Trump never read a book before college, during college, or after college. Despite this, he has been elected POTUS once and may be again. Reading is over-rated.
I went to visit my high school during our 50 year reunion. They don’t even have a library there anymore. I still remember the visits to the bookmobile in elementary school. I love to read books. They take you to a fantasy place and time or to someplace and time that is absolutely real. I can’t imagine not wanting to read a book.
I'm not going to argue about how poor Common Core was but as a retired teacher who taught through that period of time (prior to and after) and had thousands of students who went on to college and were very successful (Ga Tech, UGA, Penn, MIT, Vanderbilt, etc.) the problem wasn't Common Core, it was teachers teaching down to the bottom of Common Core. I taught "real math", all levels, so I taught well above the requirements of Common Core. That also meant my students consistently scored at the top on the standardized tests. I knew teachers who only taught to the requirements of Common Core because "that is what my students are required to know". I taught well above that, and I've already shared the results. The same is true in English. The teachers who had high expectations had students who continued to do well. Those who taught down to the minimum had students who only met the minimum. So, as has always been the case, it's the teachers and their level of expectation that really mattered.
Is it that these kids CANNOT read a book, or that they WILL NOT?
I have been retired for 18 years. Before I retired, I was painfully aware that people just graduated from college, let alone high school, were unable to read or write with any level of competency. And the type of writing in my line of work was what I consider to be the simplest form. Reports. Detailed reports, in chronological order of a variety of types of incidents. And the most basic part of the report was "who, what, when, where, how, and why". Very few could even accomplish a report with those factors included, let alone with proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. So hearing now that young people don't know how to read an entire book is not in the least surprising.
I have to step in here. Your being to general. Common core is not as common as it was. At least in ga. The school superintendent of GA is anti common core.
So it’s not every kid.
The message should instead be despite what school teaches you need to train your kids in addition to school.
My daughter is cultured and knows what and how to read. She read the narnia books cover to cover. And some of the wizard of oz.
It’s too bad she’s not as interested in books like weathering heights and that but she has her way of reading and taking notes on books.
She didn’t learn that in school. She learned it from her tutor and me. Now she is AP ELA AP math and is taking statistics in HS. Something I never did. (I hate math).
Point being be your child’s teacher. If your school pushes common core then learn it so you can help your student when they ask and be there to enhance upon it. That’s what I did. Now my daughter and I speak our own language when it comes to school.
I don’t know the solution that is 100% perfect but you can’t just give up either.
Just because one is literate doesn’t mean one knows how to read.
There are two political commentators / writers in the US I respect above the rest. Erick is one, John Kass the other. I would not normally provide a link to one on the others site, but the article written by Kass today is not only brilliant in terms of what is going on in my once great city (I have relocated to Atlanta and will never look back), but relevant to Erick's article. Erick, not sure if you are familiar with Kass, but he left the Chicago Tribune when they turned woke, and now has a podcast and a post. Hope it is ok to share the link, I believe you would fully enjoy his perspective as he would enjoy yours.
https://johnkassnews.com/chicago-fears-the-curses-unleashed-by-mayor-johnson/
Should say can
Can’t read can’t write can’t find a job but can’t tell you who’s in the latest movie or latest hit maker
I agree but don’t lump them all in like that. Not all are like that.
Common Core was horrible and provided for a miserable education when I was teaching. Sad to see nothing has changed. I felt really sorry for the math teachers.
But they can vote.
Most of them don’t.
A lot of them do when the democrat van comes around and herds them to the voter booth after having hunted them down to register.