Gift article link here (originally found on Reddit, where there’s an interesting discussion about the article).

Horowitch, R. (2024, October 1). The elite college students who can’t read books. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/11/the-elite-college-students-who-cant-read-books/679945/?gift=UoS1tIc6TXiFq9icdNennfq49wPwe8tkAtwAwaD_gqg

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This is an anecdotal article about American university professors who have noticed a rise in students who struggle to read books, or, as one academic reportedly told Horowitch, “students have trouble staying focused on even a sonnet”.

This seems unlikely… 14 lines? Come on. But then, perhaps it refers to Shakespearean sonnets and the like, which although short are written in English that’s unfamiliar to many, particularly if you haven’t read much pre-20th century literature.

The usual suspects are canvassed: smart phones and social media; teaching to standardised tests; fewer full novels as assigned reading in high school; and students spending more time in paid employment and on extracurriculars.

It’s an interesting read for anyone interested in aliteracy. Although, of course, complaints about university students being ill-prepared go back to at least 1897.

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