[IRTalk] FW: New Indicators on Waning American Reading Habits

Dr Leti Kleyn Leti at assaf.org.za
Mon Jul 15 15:09:01 SAST 2019 


From: Humanities Indicators <humanitiesindicators at amacad.org>
Sent: 15 July 2019 15:05
To: Dr Leti Kleyn <Leti at assaf.org.za>
Subject: New Indicators on Waning American Reading Habits

New releases on waning America reading habits, changing attitudes about censorship, and student reading proficiency.
View this email in your browser<https://mailchi.mp/c917c7004fed/new-indicators-on-waning-american-reading-habits?e=8c3da7bd4f>
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New Evidence on Waning American Reading Habits

In releases posted this morning, we provide new indicators on Americans' dwindling engagement with books, the types of texts they are reading, changing attitudes about censorship, and student reading proficiency. Among the key findings:

Reading Habits

[https://gallery.mailchimp.com/28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664/images/81d579ad-8ef5-48a0-a46c-8e0138e9aa6d.jpg]<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=f11062f452&e=8c3da7bd4f>
As of 2017, Americans spent an average of almost 17 minutes per day reading for personal interest<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=e8e7387d38&e=8c3da7bd4f> (as compared to almost three hours watching television and 28 minutes playing games and using computers for leisure). The average is down about five minutes since 2003.

Younger Americans (ages 15 to 44) spent, on average, less than 10 minutes per day reading for personal interest.

[https://gallery.mailchimp.com/28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664/images/3f3e4563-42df-45a9-88ea-4a9e13394c3a.jpg]<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=18c47ef01d&e=8c3da7bd4f>
The percentage of American adults who read at least one book for pleasure<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=fad4072213&e=8c3da7bd4f> in the previous year fell to the lowest level on record in 2017 (below 53%). The greatest decline in book-reading rates occurred among adults under the age of 55.

Reading Topics

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As of 2017, about 40% of American adults had read at least one type of humanistic text<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=f1b52bbbb4&e=8c3da7bd4f> in the past year. The rates were similar for literature, history, biography, as well as religion and spirituality. Only 12% reported reading poetry (up modestly from the 2013 survey).

For most types of reading material (the exception being religious and spiritual texts), Americans with more formal education had higher reading rates. Over 55% of Americans with at least a bachelor’s degree had read a novel or short story in the past year, and approximately half had read a work of history. In comparison, less than 35% of Americans with only a high school education had read either type of work

Other Findings on Reading

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As of 2017, a majority of students at the 4th, 8th-, and 12th-grade levels failed to demonstrate proficiency in reading. Among 4th and 8th grade students, the improvement in student achievement<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=ac61f1126e&e=8c3da7bd4f> from the late 1990s to 2017 was considerably greater in math than in reading.

In 2016, Americans were less likely to support censorship<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=3e09a1a71c&e=8c3da7bd4f> of most types of texts than they were in the early 1970s, even though it was still endorsed by a nonnegligible minority of Americans. The greatest decline was in the share of Americans willing to suppress books advocating homosexuality.

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In 1992, the Census Bureau reported 13,136 brick-and-mortar bookstores<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=0ab7e29ad0&e=8c3da7bd4f>. By 2016, however, the number had fallen to less than half that figure, to an all-time low of 6,448 stores. Sales at those stores fell from a high of $2.20 billion (inflation-adjusted) in 2004 to $1.03 billion in 2018.


Indicators in the News
The Humanities Indicators supplied data points that appeared in several news publications and blogs recently, including:


  *   Associate Degrees in Liberal Arts Are on the Rise, Study Finds<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=ddf899eb3d&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Education Dive

  *   Humanities and Liberal Arts Education Across America’s Colleges: How Much Is There?<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=bb298b8c1f&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Community College Research Center

  *   TALIS 2018 Results: Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=1d76c7ef12&e=8c3da7bd4f>
OECD

  *   Is It Time For the Humanities to Strike?<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=9965428a41&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Blog of the APA

  *   A Shorter, More Humane Ph.D. Program<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=5b87169934&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Inside Higher Ed

  *   Colleges With the Highest Numbers of National Humanities Center Fellows<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=fd3636ce04&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Chronicle of Higher Education

  *   The First Century<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=514114179f&e=8c3da7bd4f>
American Council of Learned Societies

  *   Rethinking the Value of a Community College Education<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=707b317d2d&e=8c3da7bd4f>
NHPR

  *   Why We Need History Majors to Understand Our Future<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=d2773c86c9&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Crosscut

  *   Don’t Discount the Profitability of Arts and Humanities<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=27647d6e28&e=8c3da7bd4f>
The Daily Texan

  *   A Future for the Humanities<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=ca4681cfe0&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Inside Higher Ed

  *   Are the Humanities History?<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=0c1c6a3a0b&e=8c3da7bd4f>
New York Review of Books

  *   Crumbling Foundations: Declining Enrollment Numbers Loom Over Under-funded Humanities Departments<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=4f9f11a11b&e=8c3da7bd4f>
The Badger Herald

  *   Why 'Worthless' Humanities Degrees May Set You Up for Life<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=16bb1c8459&e=8c3da7bd4f>
BBC

  *   History Museums and Historic Sites Urged to Complete National Survey<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=cc908ff69c&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Blogging Delaware History

  *   Special Report: From AAA&S: Humanities In The Community College<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=b4b17ae7c3&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Community College Humanities Association

  *   Asking the Right Questions<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=1dfd809672&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Inside Higher Ed

  *   Study: 40% of Community College Students Take Humanities Classes<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=0e7b7f35bd&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Education Dive

  *   Humanities Education Quantified<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=7965ff6cbf&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Community College Daily

  *   Humanities, Including Philosophy, in Community Colleges<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=58da3884b0&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Leiter Reports

  *   New Report Documents the State of History at Two-Year Colleges<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=30c82a6044&e=8c3da7bd4f>
History News Network

  *   Philosophy at Two-Year Colleges<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=55f3f42116&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Daily Nous

  *   The Humanities at Community Colleges<https://humanitiesindicators.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=28c8968b93980ff7e865d0664&id=c16d1936e3&e=8c3da7bd4f>
Inside Higher Ed

Note: The articles cited above are only noted for their use of Indicator data. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the positions or policies of the Academy or the Indicators.
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