Posted on 11/21/2007 4:49:20 PM PST by shrinkermd
In his preface to the new 99-page report Dana Gioia, chairman of the endowment, described the data as “simple, consistent and alarming.”
Among the findings is that although reading scores among elementary school students have been improving, scores are flat among middle school students and slightly declining among high school seniors. These trends are concurrent with a falloff in daily pleasure reading among young people as they progress from elementary to high school, a drop that appears to continue once they enter college. The data also showed that students who read for fun nearly every day performed better on reading tests than those who reported reading never or hardly at all.
The study also examined results from reading tests administered to adults and found a similar trend: The percentage of adults who are proficient in reading prose has fallen at the same time that the proportion of people who read regularly for pleasure has declined.
Three years ago “Reading at Risk,” which was based on a study by the Census Bureau in 2002, provoked a debate among academics, publishers and others, some of whom argued that the report defined reading too narrowly by focusing on fiction, poetry and drama. Others argued that there had not been as much of a decline in reading as the report suggested.
This time the endowment did not limit its analysis to so-called literary reading. It selected studies that asked questions about “reading for fun” or “time spent reading for pleasure,” saying that this could refer to a range of reading materials.
“It’s no longer reasonable to debate whether the problem exists,” said Sunil Iyengar, director of research and analysis for the endowment. “Let’s not nitpick or wrangle over to what extent is reading in decline.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Don't know what that is. Read a lot, and it is all 'work.'
Yeah, Mom's gonna buy that one.
If the people are honestly not doing any reading at all, it’s a no-brainer that it would cause problems. I’m not sure that reading for pleasure is any more likely to be a benefit than reading in general though. I read a lot of technical stuff for work, and try to stay on top of the news. I would say neither of those is fun, but both certainly qualify as reading.
“Study Links Drop in Test Scores to a Decline in Time Spent Reading”
Study Links Drop in Test Scores to a Decline in teachers wanting to spend extra time reading book reports. (fixed it)
See if they read, then they have to write about it and teachers have to red it.
They need a study for this? At age 60 I continue to read for pleasure as I have all my life - and, needless to say, read with a reasonably high level of skill. I can’t imagine life without reading, writing and expressing myself orally.
>...some of whom argued that the report defined reading too narrowly by focusing on fiction, poetry and drama. Others argued that there had not been as much of a decline in reading as the report suggested.
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generally, many would not define literacy as a familiarity with the european and american literature; conversely, the new literacy would amount to getting by in business, etc.
compare the movie “beowulf” to the original poem.
the former i viewed last friday at the opening. the visual special effects and sound dominated; the plot stumbled along.
imo the movie destroyed the original.
I think that there is quite a bit to this. My 5 yr old reads all of the time, and loves it. He is currently at a 4th grade level and keeps improving. He is doing significantly better than my neighbor’s twin 6th grade boys who spend all of their free time in front of the TV, gaming. He’s in a lot better shape physically too.
I also notice adults can’t spell anymore.
Lack of reading and spelling indicates lack of respect for the English language.
Another reason to make English the official language.
Okay, but not the only language. Six languages reading would not be too many.
Leisure time is spend with I pod stuck in the ears entertaing lower brain function at the expense of the cerebral cortex exercise given by reading.
Definately.
“These trends are concurrent with a falloff in daily pleasure reading among young people”
Who can blame them? School books are so boring, many recent high school and college graduates never want to look at another book again.
Other NYT HEADLINES:
“Washing hands helps prevent illness.” and “Teenagers have sex.”
They don’t teach spelling and grammar like they did when we were growing up in the 60’s and 70’ and like our parents and grandparents were taught. Someone along the way decided that repetion and drills were boring, therefore not effective ways to learn. Therefore, no one knows spelling rules, grammar rules and rarley read the classics. It’s pitiful.
That’s true. But school and books are suppose to be boring. That’s life. It’s all about training and going through ordeals to find out what you’re made of. That’s why military training is hard and excruciating instead of safe and fun.
Books are great, if they are good literature. High School English teachers ruined a lot of great literature by forcing the students to read it and analyze it for the "hidden meanings" instead of just reading it for its own enjoyment.
They aren't saying that people are scoring lower in grammar and spelling. They are saying that people are scoring lower in reading comprehension. Some reading comprehension tests can be faulty because they are based on conclusions about the meaning of the literature that are made by the test maker. I'd like to see the tests on which these claims are based.
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