Hi. I just read the Reading at Risk paper, and found it quite disturbing, but not for the reasons that were previously suggested. 

First and foremost, the report equates reading literature with literacy. This overlooks all of the other uses we have literacy (reading your medicine bottle, for example). Reading literature is one aspect of literacy practice, and one that has varied over time. I am not sure we can say that "for the first time in modern history, less than half of the adult population reads literature" given that for much of modern history, it has been religious books (rather than fiction) that have been placed at the center of reading communities. 
I would guess that given the rapid increases in overall rates of literacy and affordable access to literature in the last century, having more than 50% of adults reading literature is a recent development. 

Second, while it notes that 56.6% of respondents read some sort of book in the previous year (down slightly from 60.9% in 1992)and that the percentage of total recreational spending that went to books did not really change (5.7% of the total in 1990, 5.6% in 2002)it presents its findings as if it is the end of reading.  Even while they suggest that people may have spent more time in 2002 reading newspapers and magazines about post-9/11 life, because those types of reading were not accounted for in their analysis, the use of literary reading as a barometer of America's "literacy" is misleading. Indeed, the report speaks of an "imminent cultural crisis" and "a culture at risk."  It does not explain what the nature of the cultural crisis is, nor to which culture they are referring to by "a culture."  

Third, the report states that there are strong correlations between literary reading and volunteerism and participation in the arts. The suggestion is that if we can get people reading literature, they will become more engaged civically and artistically. This despite their own findings that show literary reading is strongly correlated with income levels. Nowhere does the report suggest that the reasons people who make $20,000 a year don't read literature in their leisure time or go to the ballet are mostly economic in nature. No mention of the real life of people with two or three jobs (like many of our adult students) 

Don't get me wrong, I like literature, and I would love for adult students to be reading it, but I think we have to be careful about reports that equate literature with literacy, and talk about a crisis in an undefined (but presumably shared) culture. 

Erik Jacobson

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Today's Topics:

   1. Reading at Risk (Sandy Strunk)


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Message: 1
Date: 29 Jul 2004 13:22:24 -0700
From: Sandy Strunk <sandy_strunk at iu13.org>
Subject: [NIFL-PLI] Reading at Risk
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Good afternoon, everyone,
Reading at Risk, a recent report published by the National Endowment for the Arts, tells us that for the first time in modern history, less than half of the adult population reads literature. Further, reading of all sorts is down, particularly for adults aged 18 to 24. This study, which was based on an enormous sample size of more than 17,000 adults, asks some very disturbing questions related to the loss of print culture and the impact that might have on volunteerism, philantropy, and political engagement. You may want to read the complete report at:  http://www.arts.gov:591/pub/index.html

I found it incredibly disturbing. 
Sandy Strunk
Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13
Program Director for Community Education
1110 Enterprise Road
East Petersburg, PA 17520
(717) 519-1006



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