John North Editor & Publisher

To probably nobodyís amazement, a recent study showed that reading for fun in the United States is declining.

The analysis, released on Nov. 19 by the National Endowment for the Arts, warned of grim consequences as people ìtune out books, tune in popular culture and become less socially and civically engaged.î

NEA Chairman Dana Gioia noted, ìWeíve got a public culture which is almost entirely commercial† and novelty-driven. I think itís letting the nation down.î

The study reportedly compiled decades of data on this nationís reading habits and found that, at every age group, Americans are reading less.

The findings include the following:
ï Only 38 percent of adults in 2006 said they had spent time reading a book for pleasure the previous day.
ï 65 percent of college freshmen in 2005 said they read little or nothing for pleasure.
ï Despite ìHarry Potter,î only 30 percent of 13-year-olds in 2004 said they read for fun ìalmost every day,î down from 35 percent in 1984.

Gioia, a poet, termed the decline ìprobably the single most important social issue in the United States today.î He recommended that the study serve as a wake-up call to educators to change the way they teach literature at every level.

The ironic twist is that educators boast that the U.S. is experiencing an all-time high in education levels ó at least as measured by people getting high-school and college diplomas.

However, during my lifetime, I have seen a spiraling decline in the ability of Americans to read, write, spell, use proper grammar and do simple mathematics.

As for rising education level, I think itís not a measure of higher knowledge and competence, but, rather, a matter of social promotions and grade inflation, resulting in more people with impressive-but-meaningless credentials who canít write a sentence without a spellchecker, or add two plus two without a computer nearby.

Sadly, Gioia was dead-right when he decried the near non-status of literature in our society, which instead is driven ó and led ó by commercial and entertainment interests.

Reading takes time and is considered unnecessary in a culture where the average American ó daily ó watches four hours of television and spends another 100 minutes playing games on the Internet.

Watching TV is a passive pursuit, while reading is active and helps hone oneís analytical and critical thinking skills.

(Doubtless, certain governmental and business leaders would prefer less critical thinking from Americaís voting base ó and, if current trends continue, they will have it.) Metaphorically, a mass lobotomy is being performed on most Americans, who either are unaware or donít care, via their decision not to read for pleasure.

Commercially, I think the non-reading trend has been exacerbated by the increasingly cutthroat nature of the book-publishing business, which has resulted in formulaic pap that discourages many people from reading.

Another aspect to consider is the consolidation of bookstores, wherein national chains increasingly control the market, leaving independent bookstores as largely money-losing works of love by the owners who continue to cling to the hope that things will get better.

One couldnít get a straight answer from many college or high-school English teachers as to whether todayís literature is in decline, because they have a vested interest in making the opposite case. But I think most books being released today are not as well-written or as creative as in the past.

I liken the situation to that of todayís films, which rely on high-tech special effects at the expense of character development and plot. Over and over again, from music to movies to literature, it seems to be style over substance to the point that substance has largely disappeared.

Alas, books and reading never have been highly valued in American culture ó which, to some degree, is a ìFonzieî culture. A reading of our cultural history shows that those who actually read for pleasure always have been considered oddballs.

Some might say academia should stand up and assert its influence over students, in the face of the commercial and entertainment influence.

However, many colleges and universities, replete with tenured, underworked professors and pampered, overpaid administrators, donít want to mess up a good thing by challenging and even failing students ó because these schools act as diploma mills, making students and their families feel like they are getting their moneyís worth, when in reality they get only the illusion of a ticket to ride.

Why is it so important that Americans read for fun?

Writing and grammatical skills come from reading, If Americans find reading difficult, we increasingly will see scenarios such as at fast-food places, where the owners pragmatically put picture of a burger, French fries or a milkshake on the cash-register keys (automatically printing the prices) to offset learning deficiencies.

Parents, teachers, governmental officials and business leaders all share in the blame for the decline in pleasure reading.

The prospects for changing this trend are slim because most people could care less. But, as a contrarian, I think Americans eventually will snap out of it ó and read again.
ï
John North, publisher and editor of the Daily Planet, may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .