My Students Can't Read

4 hours ago

A professor notices students cannot complete a standard 20-page reading, reflecting a wider generational decline in sustained reading and writing skills.
Data supports anecdotal evidence: NAEP scores show poor reading and writing proficiency, yet many low-scoring students are accepted into four-year colleges.
Smartphones are linked to reduced working memory and comprehension, with studies showing their mere presence impairs cognitive function and reading ability.
Generative AI use, like ChatGPT, measurably alters brain activity, reducing neural connectivity and creating 'cognitive debt' that hampers independent thinking.
Common Core implementation emphasized short passages over sustained reading, eroding stamina and background knowledge needed for longform texts.
Literacy is stratifying along class lines, with deep reading becoming a 'luxury good,' threatening democratic participation and civic literacy.
Individual classroom interventions, such as scaffolding readings and modeling note-taking, are insufficient and compromise academic integrity.
Structural reforms are needed: reevaluating admissions, improving support for reading-intensive courses, regulating AI, banning phones, and investing in K–12 reading instruction.

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