1) At the most basic level—over this approximately fifty-year time period—book reading has become a less satisfying activity than alternatives, such as TV, film, video games, social media. In short, teens have better non-book alternatives now. One solution is to write better books and encouraging parents to restrict al…
1) At the most basic level—over this approximately fifty-year time period—book reading has become a less satisfying activity than alternatives, such as TV, film, video games, social media. In short, teens have better non-book alternatives now. One solution is to write better books and encouraging parents to restrict alternatives. Writing better books is easier said than done however, because the profit motive pulls the best writers toward the biggest profits, and the biggest profits are not in books. Writing for TV and film pays better. So how do we write better books with less relative pay for book authors? We'll need to appeal to the prestige, patriotism and virtue of writing excellent books. We might think of this as a religious or moral undertaking.
2) At a more sophisticated level—book reading has been crowded out by college admissions preparation, i.e. resume/application padding. This is harder to see in the data however because the statistic of "average number of hours spent on homework" is probably hiding important information about the high-, middle- and low-performing students. Let's start by focussing on the top students. We know from experience that the top high school students are now taking-on enormous class loads, sometimes three or four AP classes per year--on top of three or four other classes per year. See these school profiles. Call the office and speak to a counselor to figure out what's going on.
These AP classes have significantly more homework and reading than classes in the seventies and eighties. These classes simply did not exist 50 years ago and have gradually increased in number since then. Top students are also doing more extracurriculars to boost their college applications, e.g. sports, clubs, music, etc. Top students don't have much time leftover for pleasure reading after a full day of school, extracurriculars and AP/honors classes. They need downtime. TV can be a great way to relax. Similarly they need to connect with other humans. They need love from their families and affirmation from their friends. So after a long day of work, what are top students choosing to do? Family, friends and TV are top choices; probably social media too. They also need sleep. You might consider looking at how sleep deprived they are. Call around to pediatricians in Los Gatos, Cupertino, Saratoga and Palo Alto and you'll hear about it.
At the other end of the spectrum, the middle- and lower-performing students are probably doing less homework than they did in the seventies and eighties, but at top schools, I would bet all students are doing more. How is your "average hours spent on homework" calculated? At schools in low-income neighborhoods the homework hours have probably dropped or stayed the same. For these students, academic standards and workloads have probably fallen. These students also have much better non-book alternatives, e.g. streaming TV, hundreds of shows to watch, a dozen social media options, including YouTube.
Also school sports and school spirit are much more intense and important than in the seventies and eighties. So for the average student, time spent on school-oriented stuff has probably increased over the fifty-year period. See this Los Gatos High School video to get a feel for the CRAZY amount of school spirit at some high schools. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkwUix8RE0k
In order to make the basketball team at most high schools, it takes a year round commitment--summer league, private camps, personal trainers. Sports have become the centerpiece of most high schools—taking precedence over academics. Walk into the lobby of any high school and you'll see the vast array of trophy cases, player portraits, mascots paintings, posters and championship banners. See this Los Gatos High School website. It looks like a college athletics website: https://losgatosathletics.com
Likewise there is a great deal more focus on band, cheer, dance, debate, clubs, etc. This focus on sports and extracurriculars takes away from reading books. Why is this happening? It's all about padding the resume for college admissions. The stakes and status for college admission have become so high that students are pouring most of their time and energy into admissions preparation. Do college admissions incentivize reading outside of class assignments? Nope.
On average then—i.e. for the “average student”—the amount of time spent on homework has stayed constant because the top student are spending much more time on homework and the middle- and low-performing students are spending much less on homework, especially in low-income communities. Thus the "average" statistics that you're dealing with are hiding important information about what students are actually doing regarding school related activities.
I suggest visiting high schools and talking to real students. It should become apparent what’s going on.
How do we encourage more reading? See the above analysis and do the opposite. Again easier said than done because the incentives are driving students to take the above actions. So how do we change the incentives?
- Less focus on school sports and more focus on regular exercise.
- Less focus on school spirit.
- Less focus on AP classes and more focus on independent reading.
- Less focus on cognitive skills for college admissions and more focus on excellent moral character through reading.
- Less TV, internet and video games.
- Be physically present with your children. Remember to love them.
- Assign 1500 pages of independent reading per semester. Students choose their own books and are responsible for reading for 30 minutes each day. When they complete a book, they notify the teacher. She verifies that they actually read the book by interviewing them for 5-7 minutes.
- Promote school choice and private school options that cater to niche student interests. These schools will naturally curate better reading options for schools.
-Get away from the one-size-fits all public high school model.
-Encourage colleges to include an "independent reading" questions on admissions essays. This might take the form of a Zoom interview in which student provide a list of their independent reading and the interviewer will verify a sufficient sample from their list.
-Cut funding to public schools and colleges so private ventures aren't crowded out.
-Eliminate tax breaks to college athletics.
-Encourage reading and book discussion on Substack.
Here's my analysis.
1) At the most basic level—over this approximately fifty-year time period—book reading has become a less satisfying activity than alternatives, such as TV, film, video games, social media. In short, teens have better non-book alternatives now. One solution is to write better books and encouraging parents to restrict alternatives. Writing better books is easier said than done however, because the profit motive pulls the best writers toward the biggest profits, and the biggest profits are not in books. Writing for TV and film pays better. So how do we write better books with less relative pay for book authors? We'll need to appeal to the prestige, patriotism and virtue of writing excellent books. We might think of this as a religious or moral undertaking.
2) At a more sophisticated level—book reading has been crowded out by college admissions preparation, i.e. resume/application padding. This is harder to see in the data however because the statistic of "average number of hours spent on homework" is probably hiding important information about the high-, middle- and low-performing students. Let's start by focussing on the top students. We know from experience that the top high school students are now taking-on enormous class loads, sometimes three or four AP classes per year--on top of three or four other classes per year. See these school profiles. Call the office and speak to a counselor to figure out what's going on.
Saratoga High Profile
classes.https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1695407878/lgsuhsdorg/zvew25btmqsovmm8lytm/SHS_School_Profile_2023-2024_09122023_6_1.pdf
Palo Alto High Profile
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1666201564/pausdorg/igttewlvt3bcaqcmroum/school_profile_paly.pdf
These AP classes have significantly more homework and reading than classes in the seventies and eighties. These classes simply did not exist 50 years ago and have gradually increased in number since then. Top students are also doing more extracurriculars to boost their college applications, e.g. sports, clubs, music, etc. Top students don't have much time leftover for pleasure reading after a full day of school, extracurriculars and AP/honors classes. They need downtime. TV can be a great way to relax. Similarly they need to connect with other humans. They need love from their families and affirmation from their friends. So after a long day of work, what are top students choosing to do? Family, friends and TV are top choices; probably social media too. They also need sleep. You might consider looking at how sleep deprived they are. Call around to pediatricians in Los Gatos, Cupertino, Saratoga and Palo Alto and you'll hear about it.
At the other end of the spectrum, the middle- and lower-performing students are probably doing less homework than they did in the seventies and eighties, but at top schools, I would bet all students are doing more. How is your "average hours spent on homework" calculated? At schools in low-income neighborhoods the homework hours have probably dropped or stayed the same. For these students, academic standards and workloads have probably fallen. These students also have much better non-book alternatives, e.g. streaming TV, hundreds of shows to watch, a dozen social media options, including YouTube.
Also school sports and school spirit are much more intense and important than in the seventies and eighties. So for the average student, time spent on school-oriented stuff has probably increased over the fifty-year period. See this Los Gatos High School video to get a feel for the CRAZY amount of school spirit at some high schools. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkwUix8RE0k
In order to make the basketball team at most high schools, it takes a year round commitment--summer league, private camps, personal trainers. Sports have become the centerpiece of most high schools—taking precedence over academics. Walk into the lobby of any high school and you'll see the vast array of trophy cases, player portraits, mascots paintings, posters and championship banners. See this Los Gatos High School website. It looks like a college athletics website: https://losgatosathletics.com
Likewise there is a great deal more focus on band, cheer, dance, debate, clubs, etc. This focus on sports and extracurriculars takes away from reading books. Why is this happening? It's all about padding the resume for college admissions. The stakes and status for college admission have become so high that students are pouring most of their time and energy into admissions preparation. Do college admissions incentivize reading outside of class assignments? Nope.
On average then—i.e. for the “average student”—the amount of time spent on homework has stayed constant because the top student are spending much more time on homework and the middle- and low-performing students are spending much less on homework, especially in low-income communities. Thus the "average" statistics that you're dealing with are hiding important information about what students are actually doing regarding school related activities.
I suggest visiting high schools and talking to real students. It should become apparent what’s going on.
How do we encourage more reading? See the above analysis and do the opposite. Again easier said than done because the incentives are driving students to take the above actions. So how do we change the incentives?
- Less focus on school sports and more focus on regular exercise.
- Less focus on school spirit.
- Less focus on AP classes and more focus on independent reading.
- Less focus on cognitive skills for college admissions and more focus on excellent moral character through reading.
- Less TV, internet and video games.
- Be physically present with your children. Remember to love them.
- Assign 1500 pages of independent reading per semester. Students choose their own books and are responsible for reading for 30 minutes each day. When they complete a book, they notify the teacher. She verifies that they actually read the book by interviewing them for 5-7 minutes.
- Promote school choice and private school options that cater to niche student interests. These schools will naturally curate better reading options for schools.
-Get away from the one-size-fits all public high school model.
-Encourage colleges to include an "independent reading" questions on admissions essays. This might take the form of a Zoom interview in which student provide a list of their independent reading and the interviewer will verify a sufficient sample from their list.
-Cut funding to public schools and colleges so private ventures aren't crowded out.
-Eliminate tax breaks to college athletics.
-Encourage reading and book discussion on Substack.