-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [NPHC] Americans Are Closing the Book on Reading, Study Finds
Bad news for all the authors among you.... <http://chronicle.com/>http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/11/742n.htm Monday, November 19, 2007 *Americans Are Closing the Book on Reading, Study Finds* By JENNIFER HOWARD Americans aren't just reading fewer books, but are reading less and less of everything, in any medium. That's the doleful conclusion of "To Read or Not to Read," a _report_ <http://www.arts.gov/pub/pubLit.php> scheduled for release today by the National Endowment for the Arts. Subtitled "A Question of National Consequence," the report piles on the bad news delivered by "Reading at Risk," the NEA's 2004 warning about the nation's rapidly declining literacy (/_The Chronicle,_/ <http://chronicle.com/weekly/v50/i45/45a00101.htm> July 16, 2004). "The story the data tell is simple, consistent, and alarming," writes Dana Gioia. the NEA's chairman, in the new report's preface. Elementary-school children have posted some gains in literacy, but "there is a general decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans." "Most alarming," he continues, "both reading ability and the habit of regular reading have greatly declined among college graduates." Unlike the 2004 study, "To Read or Not to Read" examined not just literary reading but all kinds of reading, including online. And it tapped a far wider range of sources, notably statistics from the Department of Education and the Department of Labor, as well as academic and corporate studies. None of it adds up to good news for the written word. Just how reading-averse have Americans become? In 2006, the study found, 15-to-24-year-olds spent just seven minutes on voluntary reading on weekdays� 10 minutes on Saturdays and Sundays. They found time to watch two to two-and-a-half hours of television daily. Older and presumably wiser� or at least more bookish� generations didn't do much better. In 2006 people ages 35 to 44 devoted only 12 minutes a day to reading. Even the best-read group, Americans 65 and older, logged less than an hour each weekday and just over an hour on weekends. "This study shows that reading is endangered at the moment in the United States, especially among younger Americans," Mr. Gioia said during a telephone news conference announcing the report. *Drop in Proficiency* When Americans do manage to read something, whether it's a book or a blog, more and more of us can't do it well. The proportion of 12th graders reading at or above the proficient level fell significantly from 1992 to 2005, from 40 percent� hardly a robust number to begin with� to 35 percent. Meanwhile, during roughly the same period, the share of college graduates who could reliably find their way through a piece of prose declined by 23 percent. If you think your master's or doctorate renders you immune to the national decline, think again: Even Americans who have studied at the graduate level saw their reading skills atrophy: 51 percent were rated proficient readers in 1992, but only 41 percent made that grade in 2003. Aside from making authors, publishers, and librarians weep, what do those dismal numbers mean for the nation? "These negative trends have more than literary importance," Mr. Gioia writes in the preface. "As this report makes clear, the declines have demonstrable social, economic, cultural, and civic implications." The report confirms that poor readers tend to make poor students, who become poorly paid workers. Twenty percent of American workers don't read at the level required by their jobs. In 2003, 58 percent of proficient readers earned at least $850 a week; only 13 percent of below-basic readers did. That reality hasn't been lost on employers, 38 percent of whom say high-school graduates don't measure up when it comes to reading comprehension. And those employers are shelling out large amounts� an estimated $3.1-billion among corporations, for instance� for remedial training. *A 'Distracted' Society* The study does not dwell on what's to blame, but it makes ominous references to multitasking and to "the omnipresence of electronic media." "You become distracted as a society," said Mr. Gioia in the news conference. "I don't think, in a country that publishes 100,000 books a year, the problem is that people can't find something they want to read." Absorbing one negative statistic after another, one wonders why the NEA didn't name the report "Requiem for Reading." Mr. Gioia understands the cumulative disheartening effect. "It's easy to read the data as a negative story, and the trends are almost consistently down," he told reporters. But he refused to give in to despair: "Is this a cultural apocalypse? No." He made a game attempt to find a silver lining, observing that the report highlights "the crucial importance that reading has on individual lives and community lives and collectively on the national life." Reading, he said, "really seems to be a transformational behavior that changes your life's course." The numbers show that good readers make better citizens. They volunteer more. They go to art museums more. And, defying stereotype, they even exercise and play sports more. "'To Read or Not to Read' is not an elegy for the death of print culture but a call to action, that this nation is losing an invaluable human resource that it cannot afford to lose," Mr. Gioia said. Like its 2004 predecessor, however, "To Read or Not to Read" calls for a national debate about the crisis but does not offer strategies or solutions. "The conversation is more important than the dictates of a small cultural agency," Mr. Gioia responded when asked why the NEA had been reluctant to dispense advice. "I'm not a cockeyed optimist, but I do believe that if the United States believes that something is important, it can make it happen." The chairman added, "If Oprah Winfrey can get Leo Tolstoy's/ Anna Karenina/ on the best-seller list, anything is possible in this country Community email addresses: Post message: SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe Digest Mode: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SciFiNoir_Lit/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SciFiNoir_Lit/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SciFiNoir_Lit/join (Yahoo! 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