My undergrads struggle to read – I think I know why

 Greg Wrenn, Al Jazeera-  Too many of the undergrads taking the course I currently teach, Environmental Literature of Wonder and Crisis, cannot read. They’re literate, of course, but unable to sit long enough to read a chapter from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden or an essay about an Australian ecofeminist nearly mauled to death by a crocodile. A few have confided they’ve never read a book cover to cover in their lives. Few would freely choose to take this class, but to graduate they need three English credits. At its heart, this is a crisis of attention. Distractedness and overwhelm are its symptoms. In an informal, anonymous class poll, just 13 percent of my nearly 300 students this semester said they did not suffer from intense anxiety on a regular basis – that shocked me. A third reported that their anxiety keeps them from reading the assigned texts. Half said they have trouble paying attention when reading, even when their phones are off. Reading and reflective time in nature – powerful anti-anxiety meds in themselves – simply can’t compete with TikTok. And neither can easy-going, in-person conversation with sustained eye contact, or a 75-minute college lecture.