Commentary
It almost seems as if the schools and teachers have given up. A story in the New York Times last week reiterates a trend we’ve been hearing about for many months. “Kids Rarely Read Books Anymore. Even in English Class,” the title says. The evidence the reporter gathers leads to the dismaying conclusion that the high school English syllabus, circa 2025, doesn’t contain many complete novels: perhaps two or three over the entire year. What used to be a defining feature of the field has disappeared. In 11th grade in 1975, I had to read “The Grapes of Wrath,” “The Sound and the Fury,” “Invisible Man,” and many more hefty fictions. Now—forget it.
