What Happens When You Abandon Books?
My brother is currently a sophomore in college, and he hasn’t read a single book in the entirety of his time there. He has taken courses that include English, history, religion, psychology, and other humanities. You would be right to assume that reading books, often in their entirety, would be required in these subjects.
This follows a new trend in the education system. In the past two weeks, I have read at least two recent news stories lamenting the plummeting reading levels in students and young people. While you might assume that this has the alarm bells ringing; it appears that this is all part of the plan. It is a part of a systematic shift in education, as well as how we think about the world. It’s a shift away from reading and writing and toward the sciences — resulting in negative effects on a student’s studies, as well as their mental well-being. (RELATED: The Classical Education Reformers Have a Chance)
In 2022, the National Council of Teachers of English released a statement about the “expansion” of English classes: “The time has come to decenter book reading and essay-writing as the pinnacles of English language arts education.” This shift originates in a pragmatic societal shift that has devalued the humanities in an effort to promote economic success. Now, the National Council of Teachers of English suggests in its statement that the role of English teachers is to prepare students through media literacy or alternate forms of information, like social media. Ultimately, this means increasing the use of phones and computers in class and decreasing the use of textbooks and novels.
A shift of this magnitude does not happen in a vacuum or without consequences.
Research done by neuroscientists suggests that “smartphone use can be disruptively habitual, with the main detrimental consequence being an inability to exert prolonged mental effort.” The failure to concentrate is not merely a malady happening without cause, but is directly related to the choices we are making. This has even led psychologist Jonathan Haidt to suggest, “More American schools — arguably all schools — should make themselves into genuinely phone-free zones.”
Perhaps schools should go back to teaching students how to read novels instead of how to read social media.
The curious thing about these studies is that they assume the same flawed premise: Science and technology hold the answers to our problems. If we just study and quantify the problem enough, then the solution will emerge, and we can diagnose it. Yet, isn’t part of the problem here an overemphasis on technology? The rise of technology is part of a greater shift in society towards STEM-focused education. Certainly, science and math are important subjects, but you cannot cast aside the humanities for the sake of STEM. Education needs wholeness.
Phasing out the humanities, while propping up STEM and media literacy, abandons the students to the very thing causing them so much anxiety. More than that, there’s a deeper spiritual reason — not spiritual in terms of religion, but in terms of what it means to be human. We want to cure humanity through quantifying and diagnosing it. We give them tools (media literacy) that will help them operate in the world, but you are missing wonder.
Why Books?
We should require our students of all ages to read books from cover to cover. Not only does that reaffirm the virtues of perseverance, hard work, and an understanding of beginning, middle, and end; oftentimes, those books teach students how to think and understand the world around them. The Great Books do not just entertain the mind, but inspire it. When you read Dostoevsky or Dickens or Dante, you are immersed in a world of ideas and characters that spur you to action with lofty ideals. They give students reference points and standards to shoot for. But we’re seeing them vanish from under our very noses.
Increases in anxiety, poor attention spans, and plummeting reading levels are interlinked. The societal shift towards a wholehearted embracing of technology is bleeding into the classroom. As a result, children are losing the ability to focus and think through complex issues. The relentless stream of information snippets causes anxiety, even in adults. Focus and peace are key components of what it means to be human. Reclaiming attention spans begins with teaching kids how to read. You can’t do that without books in the classroom. May the recent tales of schools rejecting paper books serve as our wake-up call.
Samuel Schaefer is a Research Analyst at Peter Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute and a contributor to Schweizer’s Drill Down. He studied politics, philosophy, and English at Hillsdale College. Follow Samuel to receive more breaking news and analysis.
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