Posted on 06/27/2017 3:39:36 PM PDT by LibWhacker
To gain admittance to college in the 17th century, students had to be able to read and translate various Latin authors on sight. 100 years ago, students were required to have read various classical works before being admitted.
Today, however, many American students are being admitted to colleges without ever having read a book from start to finish. They are part of a cohort of students known as “book virgins.”
The National Association of Scholars (NAS) has pointed out this phenomenon in their recent report titled “Beach Books: 2014-2016. What Do Colleges and Universities Want Students to Read Outside Class?” The report offers a detailed assessment of the books that colleges across America recommend to their students before they begin classes in the fall.
The reading level of these books is oftentimes very low, meant to cater to the group of students who are “book virgins”:
“The desire to appeal to incoming students who have rarely if ever read an adult book on their own… lead selection committees to choose low-grade ‘accessible’ works that are presumed to appeal to ‘book virgins’ who will flee actual college-level reading… [S]uch ‘book virgins’ have to be wooed with simple, unchallenging works.”
And how many “book virgins” are there among entering college freshmen? According to NAS' David Randall—who drew upon NEA and Pew statistics—about 4 million, which represents about 20% of the entering freshmen class. Sadly, these students have discovered that they can receive adequate, and even good, grades in high school without ever reading a page of assigned texts.
For many students today, it’s considered an embarrassment not to have lost one’s virginity before going to college.
Would that more were embarrassed about being “book virgins.”
“for calling “The Grapes of Wrath” “Welfare Wagons West” :-)” hahahahahahahahaha!
You are not what is wrong with America, my friend(hoo hee! I could just imagine the instructor’s face when you blasphemed one of the “blessed texts” of Liberalism!)
For a cynic such as yourself, if you want more “culture”, you can start with Machiavelli’s “The Prince”!
Hollywood’s had that problem for some time. King Kong is a prime example. 1930’s, 1970’s and then again in the 2000’s. Each sequel loses something.
I will say that the rise of Netflix Original series output and AMC’s Breaking Bad and other such long running shows puts traditional Hollywood to shame. Plots that weave and connect over many hours of runtime and many years of realtime lay waste to a 2hr movie. Don’t see how there’s room for both.
Anime beats TV today by light years.
The first book my dad let me borrow was Ender’s War when I was 11; it was Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead in one binding.
Really interesting book. I read that back when it came out. 1975 or so. I was in HS. Really opened up some avenues for me.
Science fiction author Neal Stephenson wrote "Snow Crash" which is interesting on multiple levels and which is explicitly influenced by Julian Jayne's seminal work.
In the 70's, when I went to high school in a College town, where we were victims of all kinds of 'progressive' ideas, we COULD read SciFi (including Asimov) for class credit, bu never read ANY classics. AP English required Shakespeare, so my English teacher said " It's required, so I chose the shortest Shakespeare play, and we'll cover it in one class. If anyone wants to read it all, you'll have plenty of time over the summer".
I WISH we had read more actual classics (not depression era Progressive 'classics'), and have gone on to read some of them as an adult. To see how people are people, with the same feelings and approaches since the beginning of history, reading the classics across a smattering of time periods REALLY does that. Now I see what the progressives, who really want us to believe in the perfectibility of man, didn't want us to know!
For anyone who likes women who like books who sometimes let their hair down, here is a very fine scene with Humphrey Bogart. Just 3 minutes or so. Worth it I think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqoxk3SrZRw
Those objects are much smaller than they appear!
“I went to a private boy’s school. 12 books every Summer, and test on them! Some of the I hated reading! Pilgrim’s Progress, etc. But I had to!”
And you’re a better person - or at least a better educated person - for having done it. I thank God I grew up in the age before ubiquitous cable TV, the internet, and cell phones. I watched plenty of broadcast TV but I also read like crazy. My parents had little money and used the local public library’s books for cheap entertainment. We always had books and good magazines in the house. Any parent in the first world who isn’t actively trying to make their kids into voracious readers is a neglectful parent.
— the “Slough of Despond” —
Oh sheesh! Don’t remind me!
I cannot help but wonder how many members of the National Association of Scholars (NAS) are also members of the National Education Association (NEA) or American Federation of Teachers (AFT)? Add to that the ‘scholarship’ that produces the education college training that has so destroyed the previous high capability of American Schools. NAS may have to look into the mirror for answers.
Ha! I thought of her immediately, before clicking your link. Chandler's "intelligent Jewess." They kept much of Chandler's original dialog in that scene.
I read a lot as a kid. I hated the books I was assigned to read—often because I’d wait until the last minute and have to read a full book in one night—but I was still reading my own choice of books on my own. One of the ones I read in a night and despised was War of the Worlds, which turned out to be a good read later when I read it because I wanted to. I don’t read much any more, though I did reread Dracula and Frankenstein last year. I can’t even remember the last time I read a book I hadn’t already read. I just can’t even come up with an idea of what to read. Modern fiction looks to be as bad as modern film.
Not just book virgins.
I'm liking Konosuba (Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!) and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.; both have been pretty good.
The other problem that Hollywood has with movies is they're [in general] WAY too concerned about special effects over story-content, just look at the Star Trek reboot (esp Into Darkness and Beyond) as an example there.
“what’s the use of these kindergartens”
Instead of sending me to kindergarten my mom taught me how to sew. Came in handy and way better than kindergarten. I can make anything from a coat to a tent.
BUT more importantly she taught me to read. And made me read.
Got rid of cable when my oldest was about 4. We had weekly treks to the library.
Later all our computers were in one part of the basement only. They didn’t spend much time playing games but reading about there interests.
Parents are also at fault here. I see 4 years now sitting playing a game on their mom’s phone!!! I ask kids after a good snow around here “Did you play in it?” The answer is always “No, I was on my computer or x-box.” Parents are just as glued to their computers.
We are gonna pay a high price for this technology.
Maybe the Amish are the only ones who get it!!!!
Of course, I was reading before I entered kindergarten and glommed the 3" thick Collected Works of Shakespeare my brother got for his bar mitzvah, since he never touched it. I read that big fat book from cover to cover, hooking me on Shakespeare for life---at the age of 8. If I ran into a word I didn't know, we had things laying around called dictionaries. Today's kids look up words on their phone, if they bother at all. Their vocabularies consist of those few hundred texting abbreviations---LOL, BRC, LMAO, etc. They actually tried to turn in term papers using those! And it was always the TEACHERS who got slammed for trying to reject such pathetic work or give authentic grades--those truly earned.
Yep, we will soon be ripe for conquer without the enemy having to fire a single shot, thanks to the libtards.
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