The current reality: reading isn’t a priority.
When newspapers were still a stalwart of our cultural hegemony, even they were written at a 7th grade reading level. After all, everyone needs to know the news.
I far the average reading level is far less than that.
There is the story about the woman suing because she was graduated from high school without knowing how to read.
Or the op-ed about the college professor dealing with students who were never required to read a complete text.
The truth is that novels no longer have the cultural impact they once did. And it will only get worse.
Those who write great novels first read great novels. There wasn’t as much of a rush to get an author’s next novel to print because it would take a while for the reading public to really absorb the material. Today, there is big business in buying up the options for brand new bestsellers and turning them into mini-series. A hundred times more people will watch a show than ever read the book.
The novel might take a month to read, but you can binge the series in a lazy weekend.
The Crux: Reading, and reading well, is how one develops critical thinking. Full stop.
Can you sit with an idea for a seemingly uncomfortable amount of time? Even going back to it time and again (as with every sit-down you have with the same book)? Can you follow complex threads?
Problem: the world reacts to headlines. The reaction is vicious, simple, and quickly forgotten. Change never happens. Most reactions are the same. Most people aren’t happy unless they have something to get mad about.
The younger generations are missing the element of the truly “well read.” The conversation point is around trending topics on a social media platform – which can fly by at the pace of dozens-per-day. I feel productive conversations are based around general ideas, instead of specific items or topics, which are informed by baseline curricula. Yes, you know where your friend’s thinking started – now you get to watch and see how they finish.
Well-Read people are more empathetic – which is everything the world needs right now.