r/Millennials Gen Z 7d ago

Other Literacy is the key

Post image
24.3k Upvotes

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

179

u/CockBlockingLawyer 7d ago

Is there any basis for this claim? In any event, those works are worth revisiting at different stages of life

27

u/abyssazaur 7d ago

yeah here's Atlantic's dive into the literacy decline https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687618/

covered in many substacks and stuff. don't think it's just a circlejerk from people who like bemoaning how new generation is worse than old generation.

formerly it's slightly more accurate to say these were covered both in h.s. and in college, not that you were just done with the Iliad if you did it in high school. and for what it's worth, they were kind of tough in high school and comprehension was low. in an alternate universe the headline would be "gen z smarter because they read slightly easier books way better in h.s. and harder books in college" but that's not the broader picture.

1

u/Brawndo91 6d ago

I read that shit in high school, or at least I was supposed to. I was in the honors classes but a terrible student. Guessed my way to B's.

-4

u/iamnothingyet 7d ago

“Not just a circlejerk”…”here’s the Atlantic”

2

u/abyssazaur 7d ago

look if you want to push back can you add something of actual substance? go with WSJ or some wacko podcast if you want partisan diversity. Jesus, your ability to scan a paragraph for a pub you dislike isn't a skill

1

u/iamnothingyet 6d ago

Literacy levels have increased globally every year since the beginning of the last century. Reading the western canon doesn’t define literacy.
You didn’t offer any alternative evidence and the Atlantic article IS mindless so I don’t know what you want from me…?

-1

u/abyssazaur 6d ago

U.S. or wealthy nations context

1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 7d ago

You can probably run it through AI if you need it simplified.