English Class in America Is Now Reading 'in Baby Form'

Chris Stanislawski didn't read much in his middle school English classes, but it never felt necessary. Much of the reading material at Garden City Middle School on Long Island was either abridged books or online texts and printouts, he said. "When you're given a summary of the book telling you what you're about to read in baby form, it kind of just ruins the whole story for you," says Chris, 14. "Like, what's the point of actually reading?"

• The trend: In many English classrooms across America, assignments to read full-length novels are becoming less common, per the AP. Some teachers focus instead on selected passages—a concession to perceptions of shorter attention spans, pressure to prepare for standardized tests, and a sense that short-form content will prepare students for the modern, digital world. The National Council of Teachers of English acknowledged the shift in a 2022 statement on media education, saying: "The time has come to decenter book reading and essay writing as the pinnacles of English language arts education."

• The numbers: There's little data on how many books are assigned by schools. But, in general, students are reading less. Federal data from last year shows only 14% of young teens say they read for fun daily, compared with 27% in 2012.
• Factors: Teachers say the slide has its roots in the COVID pandemic. "There was a trend ... to stop reading full-length novels because students were in trauma," says Kristy Acevedo, who teaches English at a vocational high school in New Bedford, Massachusetts. "The problem is, we haven't quite come back from that." Other teachers say the trend stems from standardized testing and the influence of education technology—digital platforms can deliver a complete English curriculum, with thousands of short passages aligned to state standards, all without having to assign an actual book.
• Pushback: The emphasis on shorter, digital texts doesn't sit well with everyone. Deep reading is essential to strengthen circuits in the brain tied to critical thinking skills, background knowledge, and, most of all, empathy, says Maryanne Wolf, a cognitive neuroscientist at UCLA. "We must give our young an opportunity to understand who others are, not through little snapshots, but through immersion into the lives and thoughts and feelings of others."

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