On the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the nation’s report card, seven out of 10 eighth graders failed to score at the proficient level on the reading exam. Such a high non-proficiency rate means that a lot of middle-class and more affluent students are having trouble reading, too.
And it is not just public schools where students are having reading problems.
Think about your favorite novel that you read in school. Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables? Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote? Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations? Now imagine if all the wonder and wisdom of those great works was closed off to you because your school failed to teach you to read.
A common characteristic of many novels that make the “all-time greats” list is their significant length. If one looks up the Penguin editions of the above-mentioned works one would find Les Miserables at 1,456 pages, Pride and Prejudice at 448 pages, Don Quixote at 1,072 pages, and Great Expectations at 544 pages.
My own favorite novel is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. My copy, which includes all three parts of Tolkien’s classic in one volume, runs more than 1,000 pages.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Young People Aren’t Reading Great Books Because Many Can’t Read
Lance T. izumi
On the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the nation’s report card, seven out of 10 eighth graders failed to score at the proficient level on the reading exam. Such a high non-proficiency rate means that a lot of middle-class and more affluent students are having trouble reading, too.
And it is not just public schools where students are having reading problems.
Think about your favorite novel that you read in school. Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables? Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote? Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations? Now imagine if all the wonder and wisdom of those great works was closed off to you because your school failed to teach you to read.
A common characteristic of many novels that make the “all-time greats” list is their significant length. If one looks up the Penguin editions of the above-mentioned works one would find Les Miserables at 1,456 pages, Pride and Prejudice at 448 pages, Don Quixote at 1,072 pages, and Great Expectations at 544 pages.
My own favorite novel is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. My copy, which includes all three parts of Tolkien’s classic in one volume, runs more than 1,000 pages.
Read the entire essay here.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.