Reading at Risk

NPR reported today that the Nation Endowment for the Arts had released an analysis of reading patterns in the United States. While I find the decline in voluntary reading distressing, I was troubled by the statements that

1. "Less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers, a 14 percent decline from 20 years earlier. Among 17-year-olds, the percentage of non-readers doubled over a 20-year period, from nine percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004."

2. "On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading."

" Because these people then read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they do more poorly in school, in the job market and in civic life."

The analysis To Read or Not to Read, examined all kinds of reading including online. The data was collected from more than 40 sources including academic, corporate and federal studies.
The entire report can be downloaded from the above link.

Stay tuned. I'm sure we will be reading?? more about this issue.