According to Daniel Kevles, professor of humanities at Caltech, "We are developing a generation that has no interest in reading except insofar as it is assigned in school," ¹ and it seems that this could ultimately have a detrimental effect on our communities, as further information below will explain.

A growing number of media reports reflecting the decline in reading in children, should be of great concern to us as home educating parents:

“Researchers have found a sharp decline in reading enjoyment after the age of eight. Sixty-two percent of children between six and eight say they either love or like reading books for fun, but this percentage drops to just 46% for children between the ages of nine to 11, with the figure at 49% for 12-14-year olds, and 46% again for 15-17-year-olds. “Reading enjoyment declines sharply after age eight,” reported the publisher.

Scholastic also surveyed the parents of children between the ages of zero and five for the first time this year in an attempt to discover what made children frequent readers. The report found that a six to 11-year-old child is more likely to be a frequent reader if they are currently read aloud to at home, if they were also read aloud to five to seven days a week before starting nursery, and if they are less likely to use a computer for fun.” ²

The decline in reading has resulted in a decline in language skills:

“It is not surprising, therefore, that students who watch and listen more and read less are losing command of their writing. As anyone who has seen that rare thing, a letter written by a student, knows, young people today often have considerable difficulty filling a page with clear, exact sentences. Their performance on recent SATs [American college entrance tests] raises the question of whether they also have difficulty producing clear, exact thought.” ³

“Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not…

'Studies show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary,' ... 'Reading for pleasure is the key to developing these skills. Students today have more visual literacy and less print literacy. Many students do not read for pleasure and have not for decades.' ” 4

It’s not difficult to figure out some of the reasons for this decline in reading:

“There are a lot more products and platforms competing for your attention today than there were 30 years ago — video games have exploded in popularity and movies have transformed from something you did at the theater to something you do at home. Perhaps most important, the Internet, with its infinite distractions, did not exist 30 years ago.” 5

Our generation is also spending more time browsing or watching other media and less time reading books, but our formative years are over – not so that of our children. It is imperative that we make a conscious effort to read aloud to our children daily and encourage them to develop a habit of reading:

Dana Gioia, Chairman of National Endowment of the Arts reported that “Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general adult population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting…. The habit of daily reading overwhelmingly correlates with better reading skills and higher academic achievement. On the other hand, poor reading skills correlate with lower levels of financial and job success…. Regular reading not only boosts the likelihood of an individual’s academic and economic success—facts that are not especially surprising—but it also seems to awaken a person’s social and civic sense. Reading correlates with almost every measurement of positive personal and social behavior surveyed.” 6

This report seems to suggest that communities as a whole need our children to be regular readers. It sums up the following benefits:

“Children who read well do better in other subjects, and in all aspects of school and beyond.

* Reading skills correspond directly to one’s ability to…
– be an informed citizen
– communicate effectively
– earn a higher salary
– succeed in one’s chosen career, and
– achieve personal fulfillment
* Literary readers are:
– 3 times as likely to attend a performing arts event
– 4 times as likely to visit an art museum
– 2 1/2 times as likely to do volunteer or charity work
– 1 1/2 times as likely to attend sporting events, and
– 1 ½ times as likely to participate in sports activities.” 7

So the challenge for all of us, is to help our children limit their screen time and make sure they understand the benefits of reading.

Our Footprints curricula are all story-based learning programmes that will get your and your children SHARING books as you cuddle up, read aloud and learn together from our literature-based unit studies.