The Atlantic 10.1.2024 “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books”
*Photo credit The Atlantic/Illustration by Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva
THE ELITE COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO CAN’T READ BOOKS
Nicholas Dames has taught Literature Humanities, Columbia University’s required great-books course, since 1998. He loves the job, but it has changed. Over the past decade, students have become overwhelmed by the reading. College kids have never read everything they’re assigned, of course, but this feels different. Dames’s students now seem bewildered by the thought of finishing multiple books a semester. His colleagues have noticed the same problem. Many students no longer arrive at college—even at highly selective, elite colleges—prepared to read books. a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school.
Read the entire article on theatlantic.com