Literature Professor Warns That Fears Of A 'Generational Collapse' In Reading & Writing Are Not 'Overblown'
Ushuaia studio | Shutterstock People have been brushing aside concerns about an impending literacy crisis where younger generations are reading less and struggling more to complete complex tasks.
Whether it is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic or shifting priorities in education, it's always been assumed that kids will eventually bounce back. However, one professor is sounding the alarm that these fears might be more justified than most realize.
A literature professor believes that reading and writing skills are seeing a 'generational collapse.'
In an essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education, literature professor Tyler Jagt asserted that teachers aren't exaggerating when they say kids cannot read anymore. His students are truly struggling to complete even the most basic of college-level reading assignments.
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To prove his point, Jagt recounted a recent experience he personally had with a writing and rhetoric class. The students were assigned to read a 20-page article, something that he had been asking students to do for years and that he had even done himself in his undergraduate career. Unfortunately, not a single one of the students completed the assignment.
According to Jagt, the literacy decline is no longer just speculation. It's now being backed by national data that shows that students no longer have satisfactory skills in reading, writing, and comprehension. The 2024 NAEP Reading Assessment revealed that twelfth-grade students now have a lower average reading score than in 2019 by three points. Further, the average score in 2024 was 10 points lower than in 1992, when the very first NAEP assessment was administered.
These findings are reflected in other patterns that Jagt brought up in the essay, specifically the 2011 NAEP writing assessment. Only 24% of twelfth-graders reached proficient writing levels, and a mere 3% were able to achieve advanced scores. Over time, students are not improving. They're getting worse and worse every year, and it begs an important question: Who's truly to blame?
Jagt mentioned a few factors he believes are contributing to the decline in literacy.
The first major factor that Jagt said is affecting literacy skills in young adults is their smartphones. Constant notifications and the rise of short-form content make it harder for people to focus for longer periods of time. Students who grew up with these distractions may have a more difficult time staying engaged in extensive reading.
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Jagt shared, "A 2022 study by Motoyasu Honma and colleagues at Japan’s Showa University used near-infrared spectroscopy to compare reading on a smartphone with reading the same passage on paper, and found that smartphone reading produced overactivity in the prefrontal cortex, suppressed sigh generation, and led to general lower comprehension scores; the authors argued that the sigh inhibition and prefrontal overload were causally linked to the comprehension decline."
Another significant factor is an overreliance on generative AI. Jagt warned that students who use AI tools heavily to summarize readings or generate writing are missing out on the mental effort that helps build these skills. He stated, "When I assign analysis, I am not trying to extract a polished product; I am trying to put the student’s mind through resistance in order to make it stronger."
However, Jagt shared that students are not the only ones to blame. He also argued that the K-12 educational system has become far too lenient and flexible in allowing students to pass without actually meeting required standards. They place more emphasis on test preparation and shorter tasks than on taking the time to read entire books and complete critical thinking analyses.
The literacy problem can no longer be considered temporary in Jagt's mind, and he called on educators and parents to hold students accountable. He concluded, "If we want literate citizens, we will have to rebuild the conditions for literacy deliberately, against the grain of every incentive currently pointed the other way."
Kayla Asbach is a writer with a bachelor's degree from the University of Central Florida. She covers relationships, psychology, self-help, pop culture, and human interest topics.
