Students Need to Read More!
Aileen Niu (PPS ‘27)
I’ll admit it — it’s been a while since I’ve finished reading an entire book. Life at college, now dominated by an intense pre-professional culture, leaves little time for leisure reading. I asked my closest friends when they last finished reading a book, and only one — that’s set on law school — could recall something recent. In 2021, almost a quarter of Americans said they hadn’t read a book in whole or in part in the last year.
As a student studying computer science and public policy, I enjoy the balance offered by both majors. However, I’ve noticed that my time has been consumed by coding homework, and that my policy classes rarely offer the opportunity to engage deeply with whole books. To foster critical thinking and a well-rounded education, high schools and colleges should assign more books as part of coursework and encourage students to make space for thoughtful reading.
At Duke, there are a few viable paths that students often feel pressured into. You can be an engineer, go into finance or business, pursue the pre-med route, or perhaps use your (rare) ability to effectively read and consider law school. It’s hard not to be “pre”- something. More students feel compelled to pursue a STEM major out of fear that non-technical roles will be replaced soon in an age of rapidly evolving technology. Bachelor’s degrees awarded in humanities fields declined by almost a third between 2012 and 2022. The sentiment seems to be that everyone can read, but not everyone can write efficient code or manipulate AI, which is what will really set you up well. But that’s wrong, and not everyone can read!
Thoughtful reading has dwindled in an age where the internet makes information available at our fingertips. Studies suggest that increased reliance on the internet for information retrieval and
media-multitasking adversely impacts memory and attention. For instance, TikTok, a platform delivering information through 30-second videos, is now used by 63% of teenagers. Similarly, it takes mere seconds for students to find the summary for a book chapter or ask ChatGPT for a few bullet points. These kinds of shortcuts are prevalent and take away from the meaning offered by reading.
Teachers are assigning fewer long reading assignments because they worry that students simply can’t complete them anymore. This shift begins at a young age — the percentage of 9-year-old students who read for fun on a daily basis decreased by 15 percent between 1999 and 2022. Professors across all subjects have noticed changes in students’ ability to digest, synthesize, and utilize information. Unless you’re a history or English major, you likely don’t read on a regular basis, and with information now available at our fingertips, the modern generation of college students has arrived less skilled at paying attention to detail and, well, reading books.
What’s so great about books? One study at Emory University identified the difference in completing longer readings — after reading the novel Pompeii iteratively, participants underwent a series of fMRI brain scans. Results showed that completing these longer readings heightened connectivity in parts of the brain associated with receptivity of language, and that this connectivity was retained over longer periods as well. Reading benefits student growth in a multitude of ways. It has been proven to increase empathy and even contribute to longevity. Research also shows that physical print readings show stronger benefits for comprehension. Beyond scientific benefits, reading helps foster creative thinking and new perspectives for everyone.
One solution is to assign more books in class. This may seem counterintuitive — requiring students to read something they don’t enjoy may further discourage them. This strategy is
effective in colleges, where students often choose courses aligned with their interests — this makes them more likely to engage with assigned material. In high school, while students are still exploring a variety of interests, reading assignments help build analytical skills and develop critical thinking to prepare for future endeavors. Even in STEM courses, reading assignments — whether books or textbooks — can be incorporated to enrich students’ understanding of theories and topical implications. Offering thoughtful, subject-relevant texts can encourage students to read beyond the classroom. Even if this solution doesn’t turn every student into an avid reader, it will enhance the crucial skill that is synthesizing information and analyzing it — something that seems to be disappearing in a modern digital age. Aside from reading assignments, thoughtful reading can be fostered through community book drives, funding for libraries, local reading campaigns, and a multitude of other initiatives.
Aileen Niu (PPS ’27) is from Chapel Hill, NC and is a Public Policy Undergraduate at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. This piece was submitted as an op-ed in the Fall ’24 PUBPOL 301 course. This content does not represent the official or unofficial views of the Sanford School, Polis, Duke University, or any entity or individual other than the author.
