National Endowment for the Arts Report

Posted by admin on 11.19.2007 at 12:09 pm

The National Endowment for the Arts released a study on American reading habits recently. The study draws on more than 40 sources, including federal agencies and universities, and examines the reading habits of American children, teens, and adults. The study found that nearly one-half of Americans aged 18-24 read no books for pleasure! It also found that 65% of American college freshman either do not read for pleasure, or read less than one hour each week. That trend improves slightly through college, with 1/3 of American college seniors reading nothing for pleasure during the week.

There is a lot of discussion on the study. Are we reading less or are we reading differently? Some argue that the decline is not actually a decline at all, but a transfer of attention. Rather than reading books and newspapers, teens and young adults are utilizing the internet for their news and entertainment. Hmmm…

Check out: The NEA site to learn more.

The attached picture is ME on Pearl Street in Boulder, CO while I was on my tour of conferences, campuses and bookstores in the Rockies.

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