The current state of long-form reading and reading habits among students has everything to do with the increasing amount of college attendees in this country and going further back, the GI Bill and its social consequences on subsequent generations. This historical trajectory is broken down in “Why We Can’t Teach Students To Love Reading.”
Now when people talk about “the reading class,” they’re referring to that small minority of people who actively participate in long-form reading, have active reading habits, or are prone to the kind of deep concentration exercise that involves a book. There are extreme readers who regularly devour books and those that enjoy reading but are easily distracted, which may be the problem. How can “the reading class” grow amidst the distractions? Maybe the best reading habits happened pre-Gutenberg, when the written word was precious.
“Rarely has education been about teaching children, adolescents, or young adults how to read lengthy and complicated texts with sustained, deep, appreciative attention—at least, not since the invention of the printing press. When books were scarce, the situation was different…”
(via the Millions)
