A Crisis of Seriousness, by Jon Bishop

The consensus seems to be that today’s students are less capable than in the past. On the surface, this appears to be true. Rose Horowitch, in a deeply reported piece for The Atlantic, discussed how college students at elite institutions are no longer prepared to read books. Likewise, Carley Suthers, for Buzzfeed, collected online comments from educators on this subject. All thought the ability of students, from preschool and up, seems to have declined significantly.

Reasons abound. It’s due to the COVID-related school closures. Or it’s due to the prevalence of technology. Relatedly, it could be due to families no longer encouraging reading at home because of our screen-based culture. All of these, I’m sure, have contributed to this crisis, and it is a crisis. But I’d like to use my experience—I’m a teacher at a standard Catholic high school, meaning the ability levels, as they would at any school, vary—to challenge this prevailing consensus. …

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