Test how MediaWise
you are with this one-question quiz: what can you do every
day that makes you more likely to land a high-powered job,
volunteer in your community, attend cultural events, and
play sports. Here's a hint: you're doing it right now.
That's right. The simple act of reading every day repays
us many times over. According to an important new report
from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), it seems
reading improves the quality of our lives, gives our children
a better future, makes us more useful in the workforce,
and encourages us to build our communities. Compiling the
results of more than 40 studies on reading and literacy,
the NEA report found that people who regularly read books,
magazines, newspapers and websites have big advantages over
non-readers.
Why? NEA Chairman Dana Gioia has a theory: "books change
lives for the better." Not only does reading help us
at succeed school and work, it "seems to awaken a person's
social and civic sense." That's an important new insight.
For years we've known that children's future success is
linked to their reading habits. Now we understand readers
are more likely to play sports and volunteer their time.
Again, in Gioia's words: "reading correlates with almost
every measurement of positive personal and social behavior
surveyed." Readers, in other words, get along well
with others and are more comfortable with themselves.
Now the bad news. According to the same report, Americans
aren't reading as much as they used to read. Even worse,
when we do sit down with the printed page, we have more
trouble understanding the words that have passed before
our eyes. That's a big deal when you consider a few of the
findings from the report. Almost two out of three employers
cite reading comprehension as very important for high school
graduates. But nearly 40% of employers believe most graduates
to be worse at reading than they should be. Young adults
who go out into the world as poor readers simply aren't
prepared for the workforce. And increasingly, that's exactly
what they're doing.
There is some good news. Reading ability for elementary
school students is on the rise. This progress is critical
to future success for kids. But in their teenage years,
many students simply stop reading.
What's going on here? Well, another pair of findings seems
very telling. In the NEA report, the average American aged
15-24 spends over two hours every day watching TV. That
same average American spends only seven minutes a day reading.
Seven minutes. That's barely enough time to read this column
and the next page.
Year after year, the statistics show that kids spend more
time in front of screens and less time hunched over books.
Here's something small you can do to help reverse that trend
in your home: let your children see you reading this column,
and let them know you like seeing them read. Then, turn
off the tube for a few minutes and read something together.
David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder of the
MediaWise Movement, a program of the National Institute
on Media and the Family (www.mediawise.org).
His latest book, No: Why Kids - of All Ages - Need to
Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It (Free Press) is
available in bookstores.
Our
media culture is changing how kids learn.
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