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Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

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Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#31

Post by [deleted] »

sandworm101 wrote: post #16
AhCoonu7 wrote: post #2

My personal theory is main reason is that we don't practice reading as much in this era. Some claim it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at skill. Dumping that many hours alone doesn't get you there though. Just like a weight lifter you need to keep pushing your limit by adding a bit of weight to the bar from time to time to gain muscle rather the just retain what you currently have. Between Steam, Netflix, and…

Reading a book doesnt necessarily exercise the mind. The vast majority of books are total junk. And, unlike weights, it is possible to become dumber by reading the wrong books. Spend four hours a day reading vanity press tripe and you would be better off spending those hours with netflix. I have had students ask me how to improve thier english, how to sound smart. I tell them to stop watching american TV. Watch black…

[deleted]

Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#32

Post by photios »

Literacy and reading used to be cool and kids read because successful people around them did. I remember that being the case as recently as the 80s and 90s in my small post-Communist country.

Then culture changed [1]. Now we have different role models with mumble rap and songs about "muh pu*y". Is it a surprise kids don't read anymore?

All the issues with schools, infrastructure and technology are secondary. The spark is gone.

[1] Well, it didn't change all by itself and people that changed it have names and addresses, but that's not a HN post.

Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#33

Post by dr_dshiv »

obscurette wrote: post #27
AhCoonu7 wrote: post #2

My personal theory is main reason is that we don't practice reading as much in this era. Some claim it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at skill. Dumping that many hours alone doesn't get you there though. Just like a weight lifter you need to keep pushing your limit by adding a bit of weight to the bar from time to time to gain muscle rather the just retain what you currently have. Between Steam, Netflix, and…

This. And I blame schools. People like to rage about kids reading a lot more books in the past, but I don't think that's was the main contributor. I went to school in seventies and if I look at my pupils now, there is no huge difference. Most of my classmates didn't like to read books either, let the others summarize books they had to read etc. But there is a huge gap in everyday reading – none of my classmates could…

ChatGPT. Just saying. It’s truly a lot of reading. I must read about twice as much text as ever before.

Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#34

Post by yorwba »

AhCoonu7 wrote: post #2

My personal theory is main reason is that we don't practice reading as much in this era. Some claim it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at skill. Dumping that many hours alone doesn't get you there though. Just like a weight lifter you need to keep pushing your limit by adding a bit of weight to the bar from time to time to gain muscle rather the just retain what you currently have. Between Steam, Netflix, and…

Alternatively, the real problem is that articles like this one don't come with a short summary like "There is no crisis in the ability to read, nor is there a crisis in the practice of reading books, but there is a crisis in the status of Modernist literary studies." so that you have to read all the way through to the end to find out what it's trying to say and also click a bunch of links to learn statistics like "75% of U.S. adults say they have read all or part of at least one book in the past 12 months" https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/09/americans...

In any case, as far as the crisis of Modernist literary studies is concerned, to be as adept at it as literature profs demand, students would have to get really into famous works of the nineteenth century, which was not that unreasonable to expect ca. 1950 but maybe a bit of a tough sell now. So the crisis will likely continue unabated until it is replaced by the crisis of post-modernist literary studies instead. (I guess it was preceded by the crisis of Classical literary studies, as the ability to read Latin and Greek did in fact decline.)

Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#35

Post by fasterik »

sandworm101 wrote: post #16
AhCoonu7 wrote: post #2

My personal theory is main reason is that we don't practice reading as much in this era. Some claim it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at skill. Dumping that many hours alone doesn't get you there though. Just like a weight lifter you need to keep pushing your limit by adding a bit of weight to the bar from time to time to gain muscle rather the just retain what you currently have. Between Steam, Netflix, and…

Reading a book doesnt necessarily exercise the mind. The vast majority of books are total junk. And, unlike weights, it is possible to become dumber by reading the wrong books. Spend four hours a day reading vanity press tripe and you would be better off spending those hours with netflix. I have had students ask me how to improve thier english, how to sound smart. I tell them to stop watching american TV. Watch black…

I'm all for reading the classics, but if you take all of the fun out of reading, nobody is going to do it. If someone had forced me to read Plato instead of Harry Potter as a kid, I wouldn't have done nearly as much reading as I did, which prepared me for tackling more difficult texts as I matured.

Re: American TV, Deadwood is widely considered some of the best Shakespearean writing of the modern age.

Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#36

Post by nottorp »

tonymet wrote: post #18

I’m more worried about the lack of writing . Far too much time is spent reading other people’s ideas. And very little of what has been published in the past 15 years has been worthwhile. Better to encourage more people to solidify & advocate for their own ideas, opinions, beliefs rather than regurgitating someone else’s.

> And very little of what has been published in the past 15 years has been worthwhile.

I'd say that's survivor bias. Take any 15 year time period and 98% of what has been published in any form will be crap.

We just remember only the 2%.

I might agree that the shift from art and entertainment to content creation has reduced that 2% to 1-1.5% though.

Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#37

Post by PunchyHamster »

fasterik wrote: post #35
sandworm101 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading a book doesnt necessarily exercise the mind. The vast majority of books are total junk. And, unlike weights, it is possible to become dumber by reading the wrong books. Spend four hours a day reading vanity press tripe and you would be better off spending those hours with netflix. I have had students ask me how to improve thier english, how to sound smart. I tell them to stop watching american TV. Watch black…

I'm all for reading the classics, but if you take all of the fun out of reading, nobody is going to do it. If someone had forced me to read Plato instead of Harry Potter as a kid, I wouldn't have done nearly as much reading as I did, which prepared me for tackling more difficult texts as I matured. Re: American TV, Deadwood is widely considered some of the best Shakespearean writing of the modern age.

> I'm all for reading the classics, but if you take all of the fun out of reading, nobody is going to do it. If someone had forced me to read Plato instead of Harry Potter as a kid, I wouldn't have done nearly as much reading as I did, which prepared me for tackling more difficult texts as I matured.

You don't have to jump between extremes, plenty of interesting and still brain engaging books

Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#38

Post by ofalkaed »

AhCoonu7 wrote: post #2

My personal theory is main reason is that we don't practice reading as much in this era. Some claim it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at skill. Dumping that many hours alone doesn't get you there though. Just like a weight lifter you need to keep pushing your limit by adding a bit of weight to the bar from time to time to gain muscle rather the just retain what you currently have. Between Steam, Netflix, and…

Of coarse they are going to pick Steam and Netflix and social media just like 20 years ago they picked reading Harry Potter, majority of people want to use their time alone towards connecting with people and they put that time towards things which will help them connect with people. At least 99% of the books I have read I have not gotten to discuss with someone on a meaningful level, even if I met someone who has read the book I just read and loved there is a fair chance they read it years ago and can't say much about it, there are just too many books.

I wish things were different but the logistics of it are not in my favor. If I were to sit down after work and watch the baseball game, I would know that millions of other people are doing the exact same thing and I will be able to discuss it at work tomorrow. You can't do that with books, not even with current best sellers, which do offer better odds but even with those you are not sharing the moment with millions of people who are also just as alone as you are.

I was 17 before I met someone with who there was a real bond through literature, and they went on to family and work and all that. But that is fine even if that relationship has never been replaced because my interest in literature has never been about socializing, it has been about literature.

Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#39

Post by watwut »

yorwba wrote: post #34
AhCoonu7 wrote: post #2

My personal theory is main reason is that we don't practice reading as much in this era. Some claim it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at skill. Dumping that many hours alone doesn't get you there though. Just like a weight lifter you need to keep pushing your limit by adding a bit of weight to the bar from time to time to gain muscle rather the just retain what you currently have. Between Steam, Netflix, and…

Alternatively, the real problem is that articles like this one don't come with a short summary like "There is no crisis in the ability to read, nor is there a crisis in the practice of reading books, but there is a crisis in the status of Modernist literary studies." so that you have to read all the way through to the end to find out what it's trying to say and also click a bunch of links to learn statistics like "75…

Except that moral panic around it has nothing to do with what actual profs in general say or think. Fairly often, it is panic about profs doing changes to courses non-professors find objectionable.

Re: Three Theses on the Literacy Crisis

#40

Post by watwut »

sandworm101 wrote: post #16
AhCoonu7 wrote: post #2

My personal theory is main reason is that we don't practice reading as much in this era. Some claim it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at skill. Dumping that many hours alone doesn't get you there though. Just like a weight lifter you need to keep pushing your limit by adding a bit of weight to the bar from time to time to gain muscle rather the just retain what you currently have. Between Steam, Netflix, and…

Reading a book doesnt necessarily exercise the mind. The vast majority of books are total junk. And, unlike weights, it is possible to become dumber by reading the wrong books. Spend four hours a day reading vanity press tripe and you would be better off spending those hours with netflix. I have had students ask me how to improve thier english, how to sound smart. I tell them to stop watching american TV. Watch black…

Talking like a classic wont make you sound smart. It will make you sound outdated or even unable to express yourself clearly.

For the record, I liked reading (some) classics. But, recommending Shakespeare dramas or Plato when the student want to learn English composition and style is over absurd.

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