College Students Struggle With Book Completion, Educators Report

A humanities and social sciences professor at Amherst College, with two decades of teaching experience, has observed a marked decline in college students' capacity and willingness to complete assigned long, dense academic texts. This trend has shifted student interactions from discussing readings to seeking methods for skimming them, prompting the professor to question if this is a symptom of a broader societal shift predating students' college years. The professor's observations are corroborated by statistical data indicating a significant decrease in assigned full books in high school and a decline in adult reading habits.

A 2024-2025 survey of 1,250 high school English teachers revealed that they assign an average of 2.81 full books per year, a notable decrease from the 4 books annually reported in a comparable 2008-2009 survey involving 400 teachers. Some high school students now reportedly read only excerpts rather than complete books. This decline in reading engagement is not limited to teenagers. Research directed by Sunil Iyengar at the National Endowment for the Arts indicated in 2024 that only 49% of adults reported reading at least one book in the past year, a drop from nearly 55% a decade prior. Concurrently, reading proficiency has also seen a downturn. In 2025, 32% of 12th graders scored below basic reading levels, an increase from 24% in 2002. Martin West, an education professor at Harvard University, has stated that American literacy skills reached their peak in the mid-2010s and have been declining since.

The professor reflects on the historical significance of reading in American intellectual life, referencing Harvard's founding in 1636 with the expectation that entering students were fluent in classical languages, and Thomas Jefferson's assertion that he "cannot live without books." This perceived fragility of reading as a foundational academic skill is heightened by students' requests for shortcuts instead of engagement with the material. The current situation is not unprecedented in higher education's history. The 19th century saw colleges grappling with the challenge of admitting students who were not adequately prepared for academic reading demands, leading to the development of preparatory programs. This historical context suggests that challenges to academic reading have evolved over time, with current trends indicating a more pervasive issue affecting a broader segment of the student population.