When you were in high school, did your English teacher assign you full books to read from beginning to end? If so, which ones? And how old are you now?
We’re asking because the reading scores of American 12th graders are at record lows. While there is no single cause, many experts have said that increased screen time is lessening interest in books and stamina for handling text.
In response, some high schools have reduced their reading expectations for students and are rarely assigning full books, according to educators, recent graduates and parents who’ve reached out to us. Instead, they are assigning shorter excerpts.
That approach can expose students to a broader range of authors and writing styles. But it also raises concerns about attention spans and losing the benefits of immersion in a book. Reading fiction can build empathy by transporting readers into the worlds of characters unlike themselves. Nonfiction builds vocabulary and helps students understand how facts can be used in support of an argument.
We’d like to understand these trends better. Please let us know if you or your children were assigned full books to read in high school, and if so, some of the specific titles. Or are you currently a high school English teacher assigning reading materials? We want to know how syllabuses have changed over time.
Dana Goldstein covers education and families for The Times.
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