From the Chronicles of Higher Education: “Theresa MacPhail is a pragmatist. In her 15 years of teaching, as the number of students who complete their reading assignments has steadily declined, she has adapted. She began assigning fewer readings, then fewer still.” “For a while, that seemed to work. But then things started to take a turn for the worse. Most students still weren’t doing the reading. And when they were, more and more struggled to understand it. Some simply gave up. Their distraction levels went “through the roof,” MacPhail said. They had trouble following her instructions. And sometimes, students said her expectations — such as writing a final research paper with at least 25 sources — were unreasonable.” Those are some opening lines from an article entitled “Is This the End of Reading?” with the subheading: “Students are coming to college less able and less willing to read. Professors are stymied.” That roughly 5000-word article was spotlighted on the …

Watch/Read More