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Joe Nathan
Education Columnist
Congratulations, readers. You, your family and your community benefit because you read.
That’s
a brief summary of one of the most important, stunning reports I’ve
seen in a long time: “To Read or Not to Read,” just issued by the
National Endowment for the Humanities. (Brief summaries as well as the
full report are available at www.nea.gov/news/news07/TRNR.html PLEASE
consider reading this report (or a summary of it before making holiday
plans and purchases.
NEH documents that people who read well
•Are 2.5 times more likely to earn $850 or more per week
•Have much wider job prospects
•Are much less likely to be in prison (56 percent of prisoners read at the basic level or below.)
•Are much more likely to vote, volunteer, attend plays, concerts, sports activities and even exercise
•Reduce
costs for employers. (Large corporate employers report spending $3.1
million on remedial reading for employees; state governments report
spending $221 million)
However, the average 15-34 read old reads
for pleasure less than 10 minutes a day, while spending more than two
hours per day watching television.
As Dania Gioia, chair of the
federally (i.e. taxpayer) funded NEH explains: “There is a general
decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans. Most alarming,
both reading ability and the habit of regular reading have greatly
declined among college graduates. The declines have demonstrable
social, economic, cultural, and civic implications. Across a vast array
of groups, reading skills are declining.”
Gioia believes that the
report “gathers and collates the best national data available to
provide a reliable and comprehensive overview of American reading
today. To our knowledge, ‘To Read or Not To Read” is the most complete
and up-to-date report of the nation’s reading trends and—perhaps most
important—their considerable consequences.”
He continues, “The
story the data tells is simple, consistent, and alarming. Although
there has been measurable progress in recent years in reading ability
at the elementary school level, all progress appears to halt as
children enter their teenage years.”
Because this report is so
important for every Minnesota family and community, I’ll write more
about it this fall – with comments, reactions and suggestions from
others.
This report is not a call to return to some idyllic past.
But
as it notes, “If, at the current pace, America continues to lose the
habit of regular reading, the nation will suffer substantial economic,
social, and civic setbacks. ... It is no longer reasonable to debate
whether the problem exists. It is now time to become more committed to
solving it or face the consequences. The nation needs to focus more
attention and resources on an activity both fundamental and
irreplaceable for democracy.”
Here are two small places to start.
What does this report mean for the kinds of presents we’ll give each other in the next month?
What might it suggest for the way families spend time together over the holidays?
More to come – and reactions are welcome.
Joe
Nathan, a former public school teacher and administrator, directs the
Center for School Change, Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota
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