J.D. Vance, venture capitalist and author of Hillbilly Elegy, speaks on the American Dream and our Civilizational Crisis....
Are Children Reading?
July 2, 2014
The Common Sense Media’s newly released report on the reading habits of children and teens presents this takeaway:
“According to government studies, since 1984, the percent of 13-year-olds who are weekly readers went down from 70% to 53%, and the percent of 17-year-olds who are weekly readers went from 64% to 40%. The percent of 17-year-olds who never or hardly ever read tripled during this period, from 9% to 27%.”
What is the problem with this report? It asks the wrong question. The question is not “Are children reading?” We are constantly reading. We live in a heavily text based society – from Google, Twitter, and Facebook to text messages and emails. The real question becomes “What are they reading?” These studies show that the number of books children are reading yearly has dropped significantly, which begs the question. Why have children stopped reading books? Check out psychologist Jordan Shapiro’s answer as to why the reading habits of children are heavily influenced by the reading habits of their parents.
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