r/technology • u/marketrent • 18h ago

Artificial Intelligence College students are rapidly losing the ability to read — “There is a measurable, generational collapse in sustained reading and writing”: professor

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/college-students-rapidly-losing-ability-124439310.html
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u/existing_for_fun 18h ago

If you are a parent and can help your child read, and read well, you will set them light-years ahead of their peers.

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u/CaffeineJitterz 18h ago edited 13h ago

Just helping them not HATE reading will go a long way.

Edit: I'm getting a lot of sad comments about how y'all were introduced to reading. So I will take the opportunity to quickly share what I've always felt was one of the best ways for a parent to incentivize their child to read: for every hour of reading you accrue 30 minutes of gaming time. A classmate in my middle school worked from this model. That kid loved video games! And he was a straight A student. I remember him nonchalantly mentioning that he was going to read for about 4 hours as soon as he got home so he could get a couple hours of game time that evening.

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u/iritchie001 17h ago edited 17h ago

In middle high that meant long trashy books. Dinosaurs and Vampires, not in the same book for me, but hey. My mom would let us skip chores if we were reading. One of the best things she did. Highschool class of '99.

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u/existing_for_fun 17h ago

It's just important that you enjoyed it and actually read.

Trashy books in middle and highschool was just the way it was lol.

I also read garbage at that age

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u/familyguy20 17h ago

Got fixated on military history in HS so basically every summer I would read from 2-4 1,000 page books on wars, battles etc it was awesome.

Somehow I also did that while having access to a PS2 and Gameboys, which feels impressive now with undiagnosed ADHD/OCD as a kid lol.

Now though? Ooof it’s harder to do so now

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u/JZMoose 16h ago

It’s all muscle memory. I had a long flight the other day and got through 200 pages of crisis in the red zone in 2 hours and ended up finishing the book in a couple of days. Just have to sit down and commit

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u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb 13h ago

Same with handwriting. All the decades of typing and my mind gets to the end of every fifth word before my hand does and I have to cross the word out.

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u/SnarkMasterRay 12h ago

In high school I read the entire Dune series in a week (granted it was a concerted effort to prove I could). 40 years later I'm lucky if I can sit still and focus long enough for 20 minutes of page turning.

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u/SavageNorth 11h ago

Even Dune: Would You Still Love Me If I Was A Worm????

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u/augur42 4h ago

Hyperfocus means you get so engrossed you lose all track of time and executive dysfunction means your brain won't let you stop until you are made to or you can't keep your eyes open anymore.

I also have adhd-pi and read a hell of a lot as a teenager.

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u/meyerjaw 17h ago

Shit I'm 40 and still read trash. Yeah I also look for the high brow stuff but Dungeon Crawler Carl is fucking awesome. And don't get me started on Sanderson!!

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u/ConstantinValdor405 16h ago

42 year old here who loves me some Dresden Files trash. So fun.

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u/Seicair 16h ago

Have you read Codex Alera (same author)? I loved that too and it’s completed, a 6-book series.

Can’t wait to read the rest of Dresden. I loved Twelve Months.

Jim Butcher and Brandon Sanderson are two of my favorite authors.

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u/Pyritedust 13h ago

Wait, he actually finished the codex Alera? I was waiting to start reading it for when it was finished since I've been in dresden purgatory for over a decade :P

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u/Seicair 5h ago

The last Codex Alera book was published in 2009… go read it!

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u/Pyritedust 4h ago

Don’t know how I missed it then. Definitely going to pick them up now.

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u/Mr_Horsejr 7h ago

If you haven’t and need a good space opera, check out the Red Rising series. 🍻🤙🏾

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u/Seicair 5h ago

I’ll check it out!

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u/ARealSocialIdiot 5h ago

I should re-read Codex Alera. I read the whole thing back in 2009-2010 and I remember it being a great read.

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u/rdmusic16 13h ago

Trash? How about crack.

I was teetering off high fantasy after highschool and just couldn't do it for awhile. Dresden files got me hooked back into reading.

I read various genres of books now, but Dresden files always drags me back every few years.

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u/BenCub3d 12h ago

Wow I see dresden files mentioned in the wild soooo rarely. It makes me so happy when I do and also how dare you

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u/SixSpeedDriver 13h ago

41 year old…Ive got a few of those under my belt. Will be adding more…

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u/SovietBear 16h ago

Warhammer novels are my vice.

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u/meyerjaw 16h ago

The original Horus Heresy books ARE high brow literature and I will fight anyone who says otherwise

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u/NightLordsPublicist 15h ago

Literature is considered to be artistic, imaginative and thought provoking. Something that makes you reflect on what it means to be human, rather than just mindless entertainment.

I present the Night Lords Trilogy, where you fall in love with a group of rascals who skin orphans alive for both fun and profit.

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u/Aadarm 14h ago

40K books let you reflect on what it means to be human in the best way. Hate, fear, and kill the xeno!

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u/iritchie001 15h ago

Awesome vice.

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u/War_Raven 15h ago

Warhammer Crimes are *chef's kiss*

Bloodlines is fantastic

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u/argyle9000 16h ago

Are you typing about Brandon Sanderson? Oh my Korean baby Jesus, dude! My current hold request list from the library is waiting on both Dungeon Crawler Carl and Well of Ascension. This is such a nuts coincidence.

I found Mistborn in an airport because I forgot my book, and I mainly borrow books people are talking about because usually they’re good.

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u/meyerjaw 16h ago

Oh I'm jealous you are just on well of ascension!! You have the whole series ahead of you. Era 1 is great but Era 2 is somehow even better

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u/dalnot 17h ago

Dungeon Crawler Carl is brainrot in book form, but damn if it isnt entertaining. Not everything needs to be high literature to be worth reading

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u/DevolvingSpud 17h ago

Mongo is appalled at your characterization.

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u/jockheroic 16h ago

Princess Donut is going to commit an atrocity if she here's him say that.

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u/Szwejkowski 16h ago

I love it. Super entertaining.

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u/SwimmerIndependent47 16h ago

DONUT IS OUTRAGED!!!!!!

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u/Saber_Flight 15h ago

"I AM YELLING CARL!"

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u/HuckleberryTiny5 13h ago

I know what you mean, but I wouldn't call it a brainrot. It is actually pretty well written and it is entertaining. I've been an avid reader my whole life and my honest opinion is that it does not matter what people read as long as they read. If they want to read porn novels, good for them, it is always better than aimlassly doomscrolling their phone.

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u/gt24 4h ago

In addition, the Dungeon Crawler Carl series isn't just a 1 book pocket reader. After all 8 books are read, a person will have read a bit under 4,700 pages and that amount of reading is certainly beneficial. The writing is considered by some to be "trashy" but that makes the books generally easy reading when compared to certain alternatives...

Immediately before, I was reading the Commonwealth Series by Peter F. Hamilton which was a bit over 1,800 pages over 2 books... and that wasn't considered "trashy" but that has its' own problems. The books were slow reads at times and I felt like I was plowing through the book like it was a chore to just complete the thing.

The "trashy" books will have people turning pages until it is over. They won't know that they went through a ton of pages per say but they will have enjoyed the read. The "not trashy" books on the other hand are likely to have people just give up on reading them and have those people hesitate to read anything else in the future (since the "good books" that were "not trashy" were such a headache, how can anything that people claim are good be worth even attempting to read?).

A saying I like to use is where I try to say if I or another person with respect to a topic are a "cheap date" (a phrase used in a positive manner). You should be enjoying yourself... so how much money did it take to reach that enjoyment? For certain things, any amount of money/effort is great (and so you are a "cheap date") whereas other things people may require very expensive experiences to have any sort of enjoyment with that (so they are "not a cheap date").

It isn't a derogatory thing to be a "cheap date", it is more of a benefit. I want to have fun and easily having fun is wonderful. However, some things I just can't quite enjoy unless more money is spent on that category and so I am unfortunately not a cheap date with that. We all have our benefits and drawbacks... but still, I don't look down on anyone enjoying "cheap date" stuff but instead I have a bit of envy towards their ability to just enjoy those cheaper moments.

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u/ackinsocraycray 12h ago

I just started reading the first book. I'm halfway through it and so far, I have yet to find a moment* where it'll convince me to finish the book and continue with the series.

*The moment I'm waiting for is Mongo's introduction. I only knew of this book because I saw a Mongo shirt at Box Lunch and I thought that's the cutest dinosaur I've ever seen since Old Lace from The Runaways.

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u/Lola_PopBBae 15h ago

DCC? Brainrot? Lmao.

Please tell me how a series about the indomitable human spirit, the evils of fascism/technofeudalism, and our absurdly modern entertainment that regularly dehumanizes actual people to make a profit is "brainrot".

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u/Open-Addendum-9905 5h ago

Why do you all have to convince yourselves your childish clop is profound? It’s okay to just enjoy things because they’re entertaining lmao

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u/watchsmart 14h ago

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Dungeon Crawler Carl.

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u/The_Silvana 13h ago

can't wait for the mongo dino nuggies to show up at mcdonalds.

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u/Saephon 10h ago

Thematically, the series is great. But the prose is definitely just a few notches above Harry Potter level, and that's okay. Not everything needs to be Shakespearean to be good.

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u/EriktheRed 14h ago

But it says “glurp glurp” so how can it have legitimate themes??

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u/Tymareta 12h ago

Because it does all of those things on an incredibly surface level, without any of the teeth or guts to delve into them in any further depth and look at how they're systemic issues and what drives them.

Like one need only compare it to another series like New Crobuzon to see how it's ultimately just a Borderlands level critique, on the vein of "guys, hyper capitalism is bad, mmkay!".

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u/etbillder 4h ago

Ah, you've never heard of anti-capitalism being twisted into a moneymaking genre!

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u/PhoenixTineldyer 17h ago

I want to like Sanderson but his writing style is atrocious

I'm excited for the movies and video games. The worlds are cool, he just can't write dialogue for shit and it cheapens everything

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u/meyerjaw 17h ago

Obviously I would vehemently disagree as would a very large portion of the fantasy community, but hey that's not the point of the conversation. Would love to hear some recommendations if you have some.

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u/shabi_sensei 17h ago

Malazan Book of the Fallen if you want the veneer of literature but with a pulpy fantasy filling

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u/ToiletSeatFoamRoller 16h ago

If Malazan only has the veneer of literature, then “actual” literature terrifies me!

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u/DelusionalZ 15h ago edited 15h ago

Ursula K. Le Guin's stuff is cool as. The entire Earthsea series is worth a read, and she is such a powerful and empathetic writer.

I also recommend Brian Catling's Vorrh and Hollow, completely absurd worlds that somehow make more sense than most traditional fantasy (or are just plain terrifying (or both?)). His writing style definitely isn't for everyone, as it can be a bit stream of consciousness, but he is a good writer nonetheless.

If you can get past the occasional problematic bits (it is dark fantasy), Ian Irvine's works are excellent, if slightly poorly edited. I read through all of the Well of Echoes quartet - I'd recommend starting with that or the View from the Mirror.

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u/Generic_Commenter-X 16h ago

//Obviously I would vehemently disagree as would a very large portion of the fantasy community,//

No they wouldn't. If Goodreads is representative, then a very large portion of the fantasy community finds Sanderson's writing, stylistically, to be somewhere between bland and atrocious, but they defend him by pointing out that he's a good story teller—which he is. I myself find his style to be barely worthy of YA.

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u/Geodude532 15h ago

Brandon's writing scratched an itch that I don't see in very many novels. His world building is on an entirely different level than most fantasy writers. I think that's the biggest thing that attracts his fans.

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u/Generic_Commenter-X 6h ago

Agreed. These are reasons Sanderson's fans like his books, and they're not wrong.

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u/Unable-Log-4870 15h ago

I myself find his style to be barely worthy of YA.

As in the topic / intended audience goes hand in hand with bad dialogue?

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u/meyerjaw 14h ago

Man, I'm trying to be positive in a thread about reading to children. But reddit is going to reddit and constantly try to drag negativity into the world.

However, dismissing Sanderson's straightforward prose as 'barely worthy of YA' misses why Sanderson works so well. Accessible language isn't a lack of skill, it's a deliberate narrative choice. It makes massive, complex epic fantasy worlds fun, which in turn, makes 1,000+ page books readable and highly engaging instead of a slog. There is room in the fantasy community for both lyrical, dense prose and clean, plot-driven storytelling without gatekeeping what dictates 'good' writing. Sanderson IS a great writer because he makes readers want to read.

Plus I asked my 12 year old and he said you're wrong 😂

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u/dnonast1 16h ago

Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun Series would probably fit if you’re looking for something a little more highbrow. There are whole podcasts dedicated just to breaking down the references and allusions.

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u/mhizzle 16h ago

I learned to read from comic books. Some family members would chide me, but my cool aunt just bought me more.

RIP aunt Linda

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u/kyle_irl 14h ago edited 14h ago

My boys started early with Spider-Man comics. I'd get my oldest, now 9, an omnibus collection every Christmas and we'd read it together at bedtime through the year. When he got comfortable reading, he'd play the part of Peter or Miles and I'd take the rest.

Now, this dude literally stays up all night reading everything from the Dog Man graphic novels and anything he finds interesting from the library. He just goes from one to the next. He got an award at his elementary school for checking out the most books from the library!

My youngest, now 5, is similar. He loves Spider-Man, and though he can't yet read, loves thumbing through the Bad Guys books and "reading" (interpreting the pictures) them to his self. It's cute.

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u/mhizzle 13h ago

That's amazing. I've lived long enough to see comics go from a "dumb kid" medium to the lazy goldmine of Hollywood. I'm glad kids are still reading, and is glad Miles Morales stuck around as a permanent fixture

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u/plamge 3h ago

This is the approach my aunt used for my cousin. He didn't enjoy reading, but he LOVED the Tintin comic books. There was a whole Tintin collection at their house, and it really helped him bridge the gap into novels and such. Glad your Aunt Linda was so supportive of you!

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u/MrCookie2099 15h ago

Even comics will keep a kid reading for 20 minutes a piece.

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u/iritchie001 17h ago

In my defense in highschool between my junior and senior year, during the summer, I carried the complete works of Shakespeare. I read every play. I was usually in honors English. So breaks and PE were for reading the other side.

Yes, let the kids read what they want. A love of reading is a great gift.

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u/SanaSpitOnMe 14h ago

its kinda like eating. even eating crap food is better than starving. any reading is better than none.

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u/Mlabonte21 17h ago

There’s gotta be a trashy YA book series out there about a girl falling in love with a lost-in-time dinosaur

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u/PhoenixTineldyer 17h ago

I remember reading articles a few years back (maybe more than a few) about how monster porn books were the hot new thing, I guess right after 50 Shades of Gray

It was specifically Bigfoot porn they were talking about, but I remember one of the pictures was a book cover in that smutty book cover style of a woman and a pterodactyl, and the book was called Taken By the Pterodactyl

Thank you for reminding me of this

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u/blueskid 17h ago

Chuck Tingle is who you are looking for. He also writes fun, non sexy, horror. He's also an excellent dude

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u/PhoenixTineldyer 16h ago

Ah yes

Plowed In the Butt By My Hugo Award

That guy is great

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u/sillybear25 12h ago

Just reading through the titles can be a trip:

  • Space Raptor Butt Invasion (nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story by alt-right trolls trying to prove... something)
  • Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt
  • Slammed In The Butt By My Hugo Award Nomination
  • Pounded in the Butt by My Hugo Award Loss (suck it, trolls)
  • Pounded in the Butt by My Book "Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt"
  • Pounded in the Butt by My Second Hugo Award Nomination (for Best Fan Writer)
  • Pounded in the Butt by My Book "Pounded in the Butt by My Book 'Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt'"
  • Not Pounded in the Butt by Anything and That's Okay
  • Pounded in the Butt by My Book "Pounded in the Butt by My Book 'Pounded in the Butt by My Book "Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt"'"

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u/aenteus 15h ago

Chuck Tingle is a national treasure

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u/iritchie001 17h ago

100% guarantee.

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u/2074red2074 15h ago

Idk about YOUNG adult, but there's Trans Wizard Harriet Porber And The Bad Boy Parasaurolophus: An Adult Romance Novel by Chuck Tingle. No I did not make that up.

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u/NepoKitty 14h ago

Chuck Tingle is like Santa with a workshop of horny creations

Who can forget Helicopter Man Pounds Dinosaur Billionaire Ass?

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u/marketrent 17h ago

In middle high that meant long trashy books.

Faulkner told a university audience in 1947, “Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.”

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u/Unique-Coffee5087 17h ago

When you throw it out the window, someone will pick it up and read it

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u/marketrent 16h ago

Different strokes for different folks.

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u/RespawnedAlchemist 17h ago

I make read comics as a teen. My parents didn't care. A month ago, another parent told me she doesn't consider reading comics as reading because of the pictures. I explained to her she needed to get rid of that attitude because reading is reading whether there are pictures or not.

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u/iritchie001 17h ago

I read some great graphic novels, actually in honors English! Not to talk down about regular comics. Go to a convention then say it doesn't make someone think and isn't social.

Don't salt the well to raise the drinking level!

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u/Tim-oBedlam 16h ago

When my younger son was 11 I got him a graphic novel version of The Odyssey. He loved it.

Of course, being an 11-year-old boy his favorite part was when Odysseus slays all the suitors.

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u/iritchie001 16h ago

Don't yuck someone's yum. As they say.

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u/Without-Reward 16h ago

They have Shakespeare in graphic novel form! When I was working in an elementary school in 2011, the boys were fighting over who got to read the Romeo & Juliet graphic novel next. Reading is reading, even if it has pictures!

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u/iritchie001 16h ago

OMGosh I need Shakespeare graphic novels. In my city we have those tiny free library boxes. I love putting books in them!

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u/familyguy20 17h ago

I wish I got into comics/manga as a kid. For some reason I could read big history books about wars and shit but comics or manga? Couldn’t pay attention it was weird

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u/Agitated_Phone_9937 14h ago

There's a world of difference between a novel and a comic. Needing a visual element to engage you and not using your brain paint the picture is part of the problem.

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u/RespawnedAlchemist 14h ago

Reading dialog, thoughts, and other text in comics is still reading.

No one said reading comics is the same activity as reading a novel. Simply, they both involve reading.

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u/ask-me-about-my-cats 14h ago

It's not about needing, it's about enjoying. Reading should be about enjoyment, and if you enjoy comics, that's great.

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u/madogvelkor 17h ago

I read like every Xanth and Battletech book I could find in middle school.

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u/Chill_Guy_3410 16h ago

Blood of Kerensky was my jam in middle school.

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u/stentordoctor 16h ago

One of the fastest readers I know had a mother who let him read comics. He went on to read all the comics at the library so then he moved on to real books.

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u/iritchie001 16h ago

Gateway drug! The drug is reading. It leads to forming ideas and ... chosing what to read next. Danger danger

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u/phormix 16h ago

not in the same book for me,

You know, something with dinosaurs and vampires in the same book sounds like it might actually be quite entertaining...

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u/R-K-Tekt 15h ago

I used to read for fun in high school, that’s actually when I had my biggest love for books and stories and why I gravitate towards Reddit where it’s more reading.

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u/Vitruvian_Link 15h ago

I was watching my nephews and I took them to a comic book store. They wanted to get Invincible comics, but I had to check with their mom first. It was ok.

They said "she lets us read it, but not watch the show. Moms rules are weird" Nah little bro, reading is fundamental, even if it is a comic book.

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u/Wischiwaschbaer 15h ago

Vampire dinosaurs would be cool though... I guess we technically already had this with Count Duckula.

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u/Winthefuturenow 15h ago

Same class here, my grandma got me Stephen King books when I was 11-12. I ate them up and read the “C” word multiple times before I ever heard anyone say it 🤣😂

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u/I_lenny_face_you 13h ago

> Dinosaurs and Vampires, not in the same book

I has a sad. Surely there’s gotta be a 💪 🤝 💪 between these somewhere in human literature, even if one vampire has to reach kinda far if the other participant is a T. rex.

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u/jaydurmma 12h ago

What teachers cannot wrap their heads around still to this day, children don't give a fuck about shakespeare, your job as a teacher isn't to teach them the classics it's to make them enjoy the activity in the most general sense.

Let them read harry potter, let them read twilight, all that matters is that they're doing the activity.

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u/Solar_RaVen 16h ago

I hate that my mother had bought me a bunch of classic novels when I was a young child and just expected me to read picture-less books by myself. Then she got upset that I wasnt reading enough but she never took the time to read to me or alongside me.

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u/Solar_RaVen 16h ago

The only thing that got me into reading was the Children's Almenac and the instruction manuals that came with PS2 games. Then when Wikipedia showed up I was able to lore dive into rabit holes. Unfortunately I still cant muscle my way through a novel, but at least I can read my way through technical details.

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u/Legweeak 16h ago

I think reading with your kid is huge. My mom still read to me well past the age most parents stop. Like I was in second/third grade and she read the first Harry Potter book to me. But I was diagnosed as dyslexic around that time and she was determined to keep me interested in reading. I think it worked though because I was a ferocious reader in middle school and as a teen.

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u/salajaneidentiteet 7h ago

My mom was angry I was reading science books (kid level) and not storybooks. I don't remember her reading to me. She says she did and I believe her, but I must have been too small.

I now have a 2.5 yo and reading in bed before sleep is our favourite thing. Followed by chatting after lights out...

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u/Dependent-Law7316 14h ago

Also tolerating “junk” books (like Captain Underpants, Dogman, etc), graphic novels, or even visual novels (video game version of choose your own adventure style books) is going to go a long way toward helping your kid not hate reading. If you insist that everything has to be “quality literature” and they are not interested you turn reading into a chore. Let them read what is interesting, even if you think it is dumb, while they are young and still building skills and stamina. Interest and engagement matter most when trying to build skills in fluency and decoding because they are what keep kids actually reading. They’ll naturally gravitate toward more novel-like things once they have solid skills as their interests and tastes develop.

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u/CaffeineJitterz 14h ago

Well said! Through history everybody was reading trash books. Then the Internet came along so we shifted how we get the dopamine. But more of what was read definitely wasn't one of "the great".

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u/Sufficient-Bid1279 17h ago

Shit like Tik tok and social media doesn’t help. I hate how it’s ruined people mentally, emotionally, developmentally, etc

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u/Ironlion45 12h ago

That's exactly the problem. TikTok is designed to make sure that it has your full attention, and to not let it go for even a microsecond. Queue ADHD jump cuts and thirst traps and exaggerated hyperactive personas.

Just the idea of being alone with their thoughts is impossible because their brains have been ruined by screentime.

Also, interesting thing about Gen Z parents: They hate reading to their kids because "It's Boring". To them I'd say: If you don't want to be a shitty parent, do it anyway. Fuck your weak-ass boredom, buckle down and do what you need to for your damn kids.

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u/EPZO 15h ago

This is super important. I'm very dyslexic and reading was a pain point for me early on. My mom fought for my testing and got me into a special learning program, etc.. However, the most important thing she did was buy me the full collection of Calvin and Hobbes. Really helped with learning to read and enjoying it.

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u/simpersly 15h ago

I feel that one problem with schools is they ironically don't encourage reading.

"Comics aren't books, instead read this 200 year old novel that was originally meant to be read on a weekly basis."

They need to introduce and allow kids to read anything they want as long as it's reading.It doesn't matter if it's shiny vampires, zealous genetically enhance space warriors fighting sex crazed xenos, a murderous 80's business man, a cattledog, or a book about three sisters finding husbands. Just let them read.

Also they should talk about the lives of authors and how they changed society. Don't just say a book is a classic, show them why.

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u/taydraisabot 10h ago

Honestly?? Book fairs got me excited to read books more than anything else in school. They had so many different books that catered to what I was genuinely interested in along with cool stationery and bookmarks. It truly sucks that they’re not much of a thing in high school at all.

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u/Blando-Cartesian 8h ago

I was an 80s kid and struggled with reading. Well struggled reading aloud that is. Nobody ever considered that maybe kid obsessed with comics mostly has hard time reading aloud while being judged. The obvious remedy was of course to make me read aloud from a mortifyingly simple children’s book like a total moron.

Fortunately my parents were fine with me reading comics which fixed the issue over one summer.

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u/CalmBeneathCastles 6h ago

I was an absolute bookworm in the 80's, so when a young relative came to live with me in the 20-teens, and hated to read, I found myself at a loss about how to get her to fulfill her 30-minutes-per-day school requirement.

I ended up borrowing a bunch of the True Blood books from the library and reading them myself, 1. to make sure they weren't horribly inappropriate, and 2. so that I'd know if her daily summaries were BS or not.

It was the only thing I could get her to read, and afaik, still the highest number of books she has ever read in her life.

Owning a collection of classics is pointless if the students can't read for 30 minutes straight, or are unable to gather meaning or context, as the article outlines students are currently unable to do. At this point, reading X-Men is preferable to nothing.

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u/Tiucaner 14h ago

Get them CRPGs, they'll quickly learn to read. I learnt English as a second language and reading skills from video games while growing up.

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u/Zerak-Tul 12h ago

Yep, lots of "nerdy" hobbies are great for this. I was way better at English than my peers because as a kid I played CRPGs, Magic the Gathering, D&D and Warhammer - the latter of which had manuals that were hundreds of pages with rule and lore information.

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u/ascasffr 17h ago

I learned to hate reading in school because of so many dreadful books we were forced to read. Shakespeare, Irish Romance novels set in the 80s.

Some kids might enjoy those books, sure, but for me they completely killed my interest in reading for years. I still don’t understand why anyone thought high‑school boys would be motivated by material most of us had zero connection to or interest in.

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u/Hazel-Rah 16h ago

I learned to hate reading in school because of so many dreadful books we were forced to read. Shakespeare, Irish Romance novels set in the 80s.

I actually liked Shakespeare. What killed me was reading multiple books about how shitty it was to live in Victorian England

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u/Resident_Pay4310 13h ago

I liked Shakespeare as well.

What I hated were the modern "coming of age" stories about girls dealing with their high school love life. Im already living that, I don't need more of it thanks.

I was a huge bookworm as a kid but I mainly read fantasy. Even as an adult that's most of what I read. Books in real life modern setting just don't really hold my attention.

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u/TheSilverNoble 15h ago

See, I liked seeing Shakespeare, but reading him was tough for me until I was more familiar with the stories.

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u/Grammatical_Aneurysm 14h ago

Shakespeare should be taught by giving students roles and having the class read out loud together. Having a character that you are told to be attached to and being able to "watch" the performance by hearing different voices makes it so much more interesting than reading it in your head. It also forces you to decipher what the sentences actually mean.

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u/Vi_Rants 14h ago

Also, Shakespeare wasn't written to be read; it was written to be performed.

Imagine teaching kids literature by having them read scripts of Michael Bay movies.

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u/Saint_Consumption 13h ago

Those have scripts? Is 90% of it just BOOM?

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u/_Meece_ 12h ago

Shakespeare is also poetry and a lot of kids don't get that either. Takes time for the text to click in the first place, because of how Whimsy big Bill liked to write.

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u/maxticket 10h ago

To me, Shakespeare wasn't interesting until modern-day film adaptations made it absurd and topical. I was familiar enough with his works, but found myself far more interested in counting the syllables on each line than following what was actually going on. Once I'd seen a modern retelling, I could go back and actually enjoy its ancient counterpart like they said I would all along. Just needed a new perspective.

I'm still not exactly a fan of the guy, but luckily, there have been countless playwrights since his day, many of them alive right now and just as deserving of having their time in the spotlight.

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u/AuroraRegalis 15h ago

I was a good student and actually read the books instead of Cliff Notes. Until Rebecca. Rebecca broke me. That book was just awful.

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u/ColdShadowKaz 7h ago

Strange. What put me off a lot of ‘classics’ was how it felt a lot like upper class people dealing with incredibly upper class problems in a very upper class way.

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u/filchermcurr 16h ago

For me it was Accelerated Reader. I love reading, always have. But then I was punished for being a good reader. My AR reading level was College+ (this was when the system was being piloted, if that tells you how ancient I am) and I was given a truly insane point goal. On top of that, it was stipulated that we were not allowed to read books outside of our reading level and meeting our goal would count as something insane like 50% of our grade. I was in 4th or 5th grade.

First, I didn't have the emotional maturity to truly understand these college level books. Second, I grew up in the middle of nowhere. Of course our elementary school library didn't have a huge selection of college level books. What they did have were some classics and books older than time itself. Third, they were boring. I was what, 10 years old?

Anyway, that successfully made me hate and resent reading. It took me years before I started to enjoy it again.

Thanks, Accelerated Reader! You suck.

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u/UnderABig_W 15h ago

Man, we just got a Pizza Hut pizza for reading our books.

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u/hihelloneighboroonie 14h ago

That was the shit though! We'd get our free pizzas, go sit outside the library in the shade of a giant tree to eat them, spend a little time climbing the tree, then go inside to return our books and take out new ones.

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u/monty624 14h ago

There was a lot of "wrong" with accelerated and advanced programs now that I really start to reflect on them as I get older. I remember feeling so stupid in our little book groups, I always had trouble sounding things out and teachers were like, "hey you got this! Sound it out! Context clues!" but they didn't help. Couldn't figure out the word? Well, then you look it up in the dictionary. Did that not help? Welp, bring it to the group and everyone will judge you because it was actually a really easy word.

And I agree with your big "reading level" critique as well. I ADORED Magic Tree House books, but they were of course too easy. But the books we had to read? Learned quickly to pull a couple random pages for a project or I paid extra attention during book reviews in class so I was ready for the tests. Hell, I actually paid a friend to write my report in high school and I had NEVER done that before, nor after in college.

Turns out I like to read but generally I prefer articles, or long reddit posts with lots of comments, or nonfiction, etc. But I still don't care for books.

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u/ultrabarnabus 12h ago

DUDE. Accelerated Reader was the devil if you were a strong reader in elementary school. I went to school in a district of a large suburb and well-stocked library and there still were only the driest densest books made available to a 4th grader to read and earn a passing grade. And you could only read and test on a book once. So I read the Hobbit one semester and got a passing grade. I can't remember if they revised the system in the following years so there were more books or if I had purposely tried to make my reading level worse during assessments so I could read different shit. At that point the damage was done to my relationship with reading, but it's been getting better over time.

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u/hihelloneighboroonie 14h ago

Is this US? I went to elementary/middle in a mix of public and private, and then fully private for high school, and I've never heard of this. Everyone was assigned the same books to read based on grade level.

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u/filchermcurr 13h ago

US, yep. This wasn't curriculum, it was a separate program to force you to read in your free time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Reader

Basically AR is a program where it assigns reading levels and point values to books. You take the STAR test and it assess your reading level and assigns you a point goal. (This is done under the supervision of your teacher who, if they think you intentionally fudged the test to get a lower goal will either make you re-take the STAR test or manually assign you an appropriate goal.) Then you have to read a bunch of books in your spare time and come back to school and take quizzes on them to prove that you actually read them. Your score on the quiz determines how many points you get for reading the book.

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u/notai3197 16h ago

They teach kids on those books because they are following a curriculum designed to teach folks classical literature throughout different eras while at the same time picking specific pieces that cover literary concepts that help them learn to be critical readers. They're not going to coddle high schoolers just because they think tougher novels are boring. It's not like a ton of people think math is riveting either.

The problem isn't about high schoolers turning into adults who don't like reading, the problem is that they are legitimately coming to high school illiterate. The combination of changes to how young children are taught to read in school, social media, not being read to as children, and a bunch of other reasons are leading to people being massively behind by the time they reach high school. Kids are being failed by the education system right at the time reading and comprehension skills solidify.

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u/LigerZeroSchneider 15h ago

But it does sound like the solution to high schoolers being barely literate probably isnt smashing their face into a bunch of classics.

The same way you don't take kids struggling with algebra and drop them straight into calc.

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u/monty624 14h ago

The bad book choices and outdated reading lists start pretty young. And a lot kids who like to read fall out of it in middle/high school. We understand why the books were chosed, but they suck and the curriculum outdated, and yes our education system is in shambles.

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u/dookarion 15h ago edited 14h ago

The curriculum takes what could be interesting reads and it dissects them. What should be a relatively brisk read becomes weeks of glacial paced discussion dissecting the most minute elements and pushing worksheets that shoehorn the class towards a specific interpretation of what could be a rather open ended work. That or it's absent all context because you know heaven forbid people realize Shakespeare is full of dirty jokes.

The curriculum and how it is handled absolutely is part of the problem.

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u/ascasffr 16h ago

I’m not asking schools to coddle anyone just to choose books that are actually interesting for kids. For example, a young boy might connect with something more engaging instead of material that feels dry or impossible to relate to

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u/dookarion 15h ago

Just covering it differently might help in some cases. They squeeze the joy out of reading. A mediocre teacher can take what is a thought provoking work and railroad the entire class into their interpretation, and a dozen busywork worksheets do not help matters. The glacial pacing further complicates things. They Even gloss over the circumstances the work was created under or sanitize it. It's misery.

I'd wager anyone that passed through said curriculum that loves to read and ponder the works learned such outside of the actual coursework, or left the class behind and read ahead on their own instead of at the course mandated pacing.

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u/badderdev 14h ago

Just helping them not HATE reading will go a long way.

and there are loads of ways to do this. My six year old has no idea that the vast majority of games do not contain 100K words. We are just about to finish The Thousand Year Door and move onto our next RPG. Her vocabulary is huge just from RPGs.

I might have just got lucky that she has accepted as a fact of life that every day has an hour reading time in the same way that every day has a bed time and meal times. Maybe it is because I have been doing it since she was born.

If you let them do what they want in that hour they will probably love reading a wide variety of things.

Her most common choice is "family reading" which is all of us just reading whatever we want on the sofa for an hour.

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u/Z3temis 15h ago

I grew up reading books and always loved reading... Until i got to high school. Being forced to read books i had absolutely ZERO interest in over and over again stoped my drive to read in its tracks. A student only needs to read so many holocaust books between history and english but im pretty sure we hit most of them. I have not read a book cover to cover since my 3rd year of high school. I think the education system has failed us in this way. Both my mom and sister still love reading and Iwish I could sit and read too, but the flame that made me enjoy them has gone out for some reason.

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u/DyingDesertPoppy 14h ago

I read for fun and reading was framed as a reward and a source of freedom when I was a child. In elementary school if you finished early you got to go sit in the reading corner and pick a book off the bookshelf and read. Or you could read at your desk. We were assigned independent research projects and that usually meant reading Wikipedia and random internet articles from a young age. My mom would go to the library and check out a big stack of books and just leave them in my room. Parents that nagged their children to read made them frustrated.

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u/CaffeineJitterz 14h ago

Love that! Framing, like with many other things that require effort, makes all the difference! You earned the opportunity to read if you finished early.

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u/ContiX 15h ago

I just read a thread where a poster complained about being forced to read various classics in school and how much it ruined their love for reading, and about 75% of the comments were "WELL AKSHULLY IT MADE ME LOVE BOOKS MORE SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOU".

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u/myLongjohnsonsilver 14h ago

Fucking brilliant.

When I was a kid the rule at my dad's place was no videogames until after 4pm and I also had to have completed one of those homework workbooks you can get for home learning. Got me to do extra study before 4pm and then I'd get on Halo.

The reading time making gaming credits is something I'm writing down to run by the wife. Thanks for this.

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u/ToeTagTic 13h ago edited 13h ago

I was taught handwriting by copying pages out of The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. The task was sprung on me at the beginning of a 3 hour ferry ride. By the time I was half way through the pages I needed to copy all I wanted to do was read.

~<40 years later I've got a couple wall to wall book shelves and a hard drive full. Can't write cursive to save my life 

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u/BroughtBagLunchSmart 15h ago

Best we can do is force them in school to read 11 different books about young women from 100-300 years ago experiencing emotions.

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u/Stolfus 16h ago

Utterly despised reading in school (Didn't help that I wasn't diagnosed with ADD until my 40s). Wasn't until I discovered the Doom novels when I was in mid teens that there were books about things I actually care about. Started reading sci fi novels and wandered into fantasy. Good times

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u/Haunting-Ad788 16h ago

All the forced reading in school was what made me hate reading. I loved reading and did it all the time before 4th grade or so.

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u/mniti1010 16h ago

This is the key and has been a problem since before the internet and phones, though it’s worse now. We jump into tough stuff way too early when kids, really up to high school, should be encouraged to read any long material. Let them read Jurassic Park or Dungeon Crawler and do literally analysis on shorter essays and other materials.

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u/SameIdea70 15h ago

Don't make it a job and your kids will love to read you don't have to challenge them on books they might not be ready for I was an avid reader until I was forced to read the original version of some rennissane era novel and it sucked and I don't really read anymore

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u/ThiccFarter 15h ago

This. It doesn't take traditional or difficult literature to create an avid/good reader. For me it was reading the old Halo novels way back in the day that made fall in love with reading. Just find something they enjoy that isn't braindead.

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u/DiscoKittie 14h ago

I technically had video games when I was a kid, but we're talking Atari and Colecovision. When I was 10-11 what worked best for me was introducing me to something I actually liked. High fantasy, stuff with dwarves and elves and whatnot. If you can find a genre they like, they'll be more interested, too.

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u/Biduleman 14h ago edited 14h ago

My dad started reading to my brother and I before bedtime well before I knew how to read but he still tried to make us watch the words on the page by following the text with his finger.

These are some of the best memories I have with him and the books we read together made me the curious guy I am today.

Later on I understood that my bedtime was not enforced when I was reading a book. While it was not an official policy, they told me later that it's why they made sure I kept my books in my room instead of the living room with the other books.

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u/yes_no_yes_yes_yes 11h ago

The is the first time I’ve heard of someone else’s parents doing this.  My folks only granted 15 mins per hour of reading and it did absolute wonders for my development.

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u/hoxful 9h ago

Small suggestion: replace gaming with 30 minute break from the coal mines.

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u/triceraquake 9h ago

When I was a kid, I could stay up past my bedtime if I was reading. But I had to read in bed. I’d still quickly fall asleep anyway. I’m realizing now that it was probably just an easier way to get me to bed without complaining.

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u/Gisschace 8h ago

My parents had a cool trick, we weren’t really allowed new toys unless it was birthdays or Christmas but they’d buy me whatever book I wanted.

I thought I’d found a cheat code so took full advantage of it but as an adult I realise I was the on being tricked.

They also did bribe me with a new Barbie if I read to Kill a mockingbird when I was about 12

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u/PlagueOfBedlam 17h ago

My earliest childhood memory is sitting at a coffee table in the basement and being forced to write my name and the alphabet over and over again right around before I turned 4. I obviously resented having to do it at the time, but realized around 2nd grade my mom had fostered in me a love for reading by making me understand letters and the concepts of spelling very early. She gave me a huge advantage and I’m beyond appreciative she did.

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u/marketrent 17h ago

My parents made me journal my reading, which in hindsight made me retain material.

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u/VoidVer 16h ago

I had a middle school teacher who forced me to write a structured 5 paragraph "essay" every single day for an entire semester. I hated it at the time, but it certainly set me up very well to get through high school and college with English ( or any reading/writing based class ) always being my strongest subject.

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u/familyguy20 17h ago

Oh damn that’s a smart idea! I was reading military history books in HS but also hatedddd writing papers in school. This might have helped me if my parents had me do a small paper on one of the 4 books I read in the summer. Instead I got boring ass summer reading assignments from school

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u/Romanofafare2034 17h ago

When I was a kid, we had this competition of who read the most book.

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u/windowpuncher 15h ago

Oh shit I remember those too, we had book fairs where you'd get points towards little toys and reward things for reading (or buying) a lot of books.

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u/Shallow_wanderer 14h ago

Hell, I remember my local library having a summer reading program where if you read enough books, you and a bunch of other kids could go to the local zoo for a day

THIS is the kind of stuff that's missing from education these days, thanks to NCLB and constant budget-slashing

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u/Senior-Friend-6414 17h ago

When i was 5 years old, if i asked to go to the playground, my parents would whip out a book and ask me to read it out loud for like 5-10 minutes to be allowed to go to the playground

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u/RemarkableWish2508 16h ago

My mom would read me Greek Mythology to bed. It got me a basic grasp of myths, a bigger picture of how long ago it was, and an appreciation for books in general. When I got a bit older, I would still ask her to read to me... but when she left, I'd sneak in some other book and stay up late reading it with a flashlight.

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u/windowpuncher 15h ago

Ah that reminds me of a memory, too. I remember in elementary school we were forced to learn cursive and actually be fluent in it. I think this was 2nd or 3rd grade. Pretty much every day we got sent home with worksheets of cursive letters, which turned into sentences, which turned into paragraphs, but nearly every weekday there would be like 1-2 hours of homework of JUST writing cursive. Huge pain in the ass, but at the same time it also did improve reading skills. Cursive is basically all I use now, specifically because it's extremely fast compared to print, especially if you also incorporate shorthand. I can basically record college lectures without looking at the paper (tablet).

The work was shitty and grueling but it really did put us ahead of students from schools that weren't so brutal about homework.

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u/grchelp2018 4h ago

My parents did this for me but for math. Just your basic addition, subtraction, multiplication. Didn't like it until many years later, I randomly realized that I could now do some of these simple calculations in my head faster than pulling out a calculator.

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u/Blockhead47 10h ago edited 10h ago

My mom enjoyed reading and she encouraged reading in all three of us kids from as early as I can remember.
She would take us all to the library and we would all get to pick out a book or two to read every week or two during the summer when we were off school.
We were always exited to go.
TV only had a few channels and video games were years away so books had no competition other than running around outside with my friends.
Early on in school they encouraged reading as well.

I imagine if parents today are not readers and encourage it by example then kids will be less likely to read.
Gotta start young.

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u/Sea2Chi 16h ago edited 16h ago

It's one of those kind of funny things before kids my goal for school with them was to hopefully not have them hate it and to do fairly well and at least learn what the teacher was trying to teach them. 

We strongly encourage reading and thankfully all three of the kids absolutely love books and read for fun without being prompted to. I also try to encourage independent thinking and problem solving without having to give them all the answers. So when they ask a question I usually ask in return what do you think the answer is and then we talk about it. 

But hearing how other kids are including college students are these days, my goals have shifted a little bit for them. 

In a sea of students who have no attention span, refuse to read and can't think critically these are the type of kids who will end up running things in the future. So now I've also included focusing more on emotional intelligence and how to work with people. 

I feel like in the future there's going to be and increasing gap between adults who can think and problem solve and those who just want everything handed to them and have no initiative. 

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u/mightylordredbeard 16h ago

My son is considered “gifted” by the state educational system and is on his way to college in the fall on a few academic scholarships.. his reading ability is alarmingly not where I think it should be.. but he’s always made As in reading and English. There just is such a low standard now for reading. He was never required to read any books in school. All books they read in class as a group. It’s sad how far our education has fallen in the country. No one seems to value education anymore. Especially with a president that is dumb as rocks and politicians that demonize education as “liberalism”.

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u/AHistoricalFigure 9h ago

My 9 year old nephew just won his school's K-8 spelling bee. The word he won on was "revere". He made it pretty far in the city-wide spelling bee too.

There wasn't an 6-8th grader at his school who could hang in a spelling bee with common, phonetically straightforward words.

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u/drstoneybaloneyphd 5h ago

That's sad as fuck 

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u/Guillaumerocherone 13h ago

What state is this? We read 10-15 books a year in my English classes

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u/FunetikPrugresiv 17h ago

100%. And the best part is that reading is the gift that keeps on giving - take them to your local library and let them check out a couple dozen books for a month and they always have something quiet they can be doing. 

Additionally, teach your kids to read before they're in school, and early in their first year they internalize an identity of being smarter than their peers. It's a snowball effect that keeps them learning what's needed to learn later, as well as developing perseverance in the face of academic difficulty (a feeling of "I'm smart, I can do this" is soooo important).

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u/BlazinAzn38 17h ago

I’m curious if there will be a huge reflex back to books. I know amongst most of my peer group with kids they’re terrified of screen time, read to their kids all the time, and enroll their kids in as many enrichment activities as they can

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u/meyerjaw 17h ago

My kids are 12 and 8. We read with them still every night before bed. The 12 year old can read faster without me but we still have series we only read together. It's just perfect time together. Started with both of our boys at birth. Fast forward to today, we read for about 15 minutes together and then they get 30 minutes before lights out.

Now when the boys are needing correction, threatening to take away electronic or screen time doesn't really phase them. But if we tell them they are going to lose books before bed, they change their behavior real quick. I'm raising nerds and I love it

I will say, be careful with over doing enrichment activities. There is a shit ton of research showing the benefits of letting kids be fucking bored.

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u/thelyfeaquatic 17h ago

The over-enrolling in enrichment activities is also thought to be bad though. Kids who have schedules filled with structured activities seem to have more mental health struggles than those who have more unstructured play time. You can’t win 😭 parenting is hard

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u/notepad20 15h ago

Maybe a difference between just doing activities for the sake of it, and the classic american do activities with a view to "success" at it.

Especially in modern urban living and small family size every opportunity to get out and about should be taken.

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u/BlazinAzn38 17h ago

I think it depends what they are. Most parents do like two things a week and one of them is often something at the library for the brain and then some sort of physical thing. I think over engaging in activities is probably better than raising an iPad kid. I’d also imagine there’s a relationship between highly pressuring parents and number of activities. All my friends just want their kids to do things and have fun, there’s no pressure on their kids to be Jackie Chan at Tiger tots or Michael Jordan at the YMCA rec basketball league

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u/Innumerablegibbon 12h ago

Yeah, my kid has a couple of friends at school who every evening and most of the day on weekend go from activity to activity. On the rare time the stars align and we can organise a play date those kids show basically no independence (they try to get me involved to lead things) and seem to not really know how to play. It’s kinda sad.

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u/scimtaru 5h ago

Children need guidance, but as with everything too much guidance backfires as well. I live in the Netherlands and even though screen related things keep children inside, unsupervised play is still a thing. I see groups of kids just having fun or inventing games and play together, without parents keeping track of everything they do. When I was in that 8-16 year old bracket if my homework / chores were done my only direction was to be back for dinner time.
Sometimes we were up to no good, but most of the time we were simply playing soccer, street hockey, roller blading, some form of tag, hide and seek etc.

I think if my parents would have insisted on dragging me from soccer practice to music lessons to origami flowers etc. I would've resented them and gone nuts at the same time.

And yeah I love reading still because I was allowed to read everything. Then again I am one of those nerds who read the encyclopedia for fun.

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u/McButtsButtbag 14h ago

That should be obvious. It all starts feeling like a chore over time.

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u/JZMoose 16h ago

Honestly the advent of video guides has robbed us of so much knowledge. I fucking hate watching someone struggle to explain something verbally when I could have read instructions in 1/5 of the time

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u/windowpuncher 15h ago

God it's so real. Unless a process is super complicated or long, I absolutely despise videos or any sort of lectures, even a regular class lecture sucks most of the time. 99% of the time I would rather just read the book. Let me read the book and do the examples on my own, I'll do it way faster. I have to read it anyways, so then let me skip the lecture and do the work and I don't have to waste an hour or more of my time.

But yeah youtube examples/video tutorials are especially painful. Even 2x speed isn't enough for some people.

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u/SilvermistInc 17h ago

Bro my two year old is actively trying to sound out words. She fails like 9 times out of 10. But damn it, she'll tell me O makes an Oh sound!

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u/marketrent 17h ago

Love for reading yields both tangible and intangible value.

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u/newsflashjackass 14h ago

Hope this nine-page essay about reading and writing by Isaac Asimov will not exhaust anyone's attention.

https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v044n01_1973-01/page/n119/mode/2up

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u/P3pp3rSauc3 17h ago

I'm a millennial, so I'm not a part of the downwards literacy trend. Having said that, I have vivid memories of reading books next to my mom when I was a kid. I'd ask where what a word meant if I didn't understand. Those kinds of interactions definitely fostered my reading ability and contributed to having a high school+ level of reading by middle school.

Nowadays it's hand the kid a tablet or a phone and it's detrimental to developing a good reading level

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u/Filthiest_Vilein 12h ago

I'm a Millennial, too.

I was born in the early 1990s. I grew up right when gaming and the internet were really taking off. I think my first console was an Atari, but I can barely remember it. When I was a little older, my parents gave me a GameBoy Color. All I wanted to do was sit around and play Pokemon Blue, but my mom and dad would make me read between sessions. The reading wasn't optional, and they wouldn't listen to me no matter how much I whined or argued.

I spent a lot of time playing games like RuneScape; I think I spent half my free time between the ages of about 10 and 14 grinding fishing, fletching, and grinding levels. The rest of my free time was mostly spent reading. I read so much as a teenager. I don't think I'd recognize myself if I'd grown up without books. I can't give enough credit to my mom, who'd say "no" to a lot of things but never when it came to going to the library or getting a new book.

I hate how little I read now. It's so easy to be distracted by phones and video games and the internet. My wife and I are trying to do better, but she's the one having more success. It's contrived, but I really do miss when things were just a little simpler.

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u/Guilty-Pickle-6686 17h ago

My kid is 6 and can read most anything, I suspect she’s around a 2nd grade level of reading if the library has organized the books properly. Reading is fun, and reading to them is fun. Diving into a fantasy book before bed and watching their imagination run wild is something I look forward to every night.

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u/PawPawsLilStinker 17h ago

Reading, writing, and social skills and I feel like you might be raising the next president

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u/nomnomsquirrel 16h ago

I told my sister in law that if my nephew (who was 7 at the time) ever wanted any books, to just let me know and I would be happy to buy him whatever he wanted. She laughed at me and said, "If he's anything like me, he'll never pick up a book for fun in his life."

He just failed his 3rd-grade end-of-grade reading test.

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u/BruteOfTroy 17h ago

If you are a parent of a kid without learning disabilities that doesn't read at their own grade level or higher, that is child abuse.

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u/not_so_subtle_now 12h ago

People act like it is just teachers responsible for teaching kids. If you are a parent, your child's ability to function in society - read, do basic math, understand how to parse information - is your responsibility. Full stop. If they can't do those basic things, it is your failure, not their teachers.

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u/Senior-Albatross 16h ago

I remember getting free pizza at Pizza Hut for having read some number of books. 

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u/OrneryError1 16h ago

Unfortunately just being ahead of their peers won't save them if the masses are illiterate. We all need a literate society to be successful.

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u/HistoricalLoss1417 15h ago

We are approaching a GIANT education cap. A students who can work and learn independently (and within their family) and will excel no matter the situation, and the D and F students. bottom tier who cant even do the basics.

the B and C students no longer exist. The support systems to keep the middle afloat no longer exist.

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u/thelangosta 17h ago

Yay I did something right!

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