Plain English with Derek Thompson: Episode Summary – "The End of Reading"

Release Date: February 28, 2025
Host/Author: Derek Thompson, The Ringer
Episode Title: The End of Reading

Introduction

In the thought-provoking episode titled "The End of Reading," Derek Thompson delves into the alarming decline of reading habits and literacy scores in America. Utilizing insights from a Ted Chiang short story and engaging conversations with experts Rose Horowitz from The Atlantic and Nat Malkus from the American Enterprise Institute, Thompson unpacks the multifaceted factors contributing to this cultural shift.

Theoretical Framework: Ted Chiang's “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”

Thompson opens the discussion by referencing Ted Chiang's short story, "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling," from the collection Exhalation. The narrative juxtaposes two parallel stories:

1. Near-Future Scenario: Introduction of "Remem," a technology enabling perfect photographic memory by recording and replaying memories via a retinal projector. The journalist explores how Remem alters interpersonal relationships and conflict resolution.

2. Historical Perspective: A Christian missionary introduces written language to Jijingi, a young man from a pre-literate African tribe. Initially skeptical, Jijingi embraces reading and writing, experiencing a transformation in his thought processes and societal interactions.

Thompson draws parallels between Remem and reading, emphasizing how both technologies reshape our relationship with memory, ideas, and communication. He cites Walter Ong's Orality and Literacy, highlighting the profound impact of written language on abstract thinking and cognitive development.

“[...], Walter Ong explains that literacy is not just a skill, it's a means of restructuring our thoughts and our knowledge. In oral cultures, knowledge is preserved through repetition and mnemonic and stories. Orality requires the synchronous presence of multiple people in a place at the same time. […] Writing fixes words in place, which means one person can write their thoughts and another person decades later, can read those precise thoughts with no error in the transliteration.”
— Derek Thompson [07:XX]

Conversation with Rose Horowitz: Elite College Students' Reading Decline

Guest: Rose Horowitz, The Atlantic.

Key Discussion Points:

• Observations at Elite Institutions: Horowitz's reporting reveals that students at prestigious colleges like Columbia University are increasingly struggling to engage with full-length books. Instead, they often rely on excerpts, news articles, and multimedia content.

• Anecdotal Evidence: Nicholas Dames, a long-time instructor of the Great Books course at Columbia, noticed a stark change when a student revealed that her high school never required reading entire books. This revelation mirrored a broader trend among his students, who found it challenging to navigate complex texts and engage in sophisticated discussions.

“The majority of the 33 professors that I spoke to all relayed the same thing, and they had discussed it in faculty meetings, so they knew that it was felt more broadly at their universities.”
— Rose Horowitz [12:09]

• Widespread Impact: Horowitz interviewed numerous professors and educators across various universities who confirmed a significant decline in students' reading abilities. Changes in curriculum, such as reducing the number of assigned books and incorporating more diverse media, have contributed to this issue.

• Educational Initiatives: Policies like No Child Left Behind and Common Core have emphasized standardized testing and informational texts over long-form literature, leading educators to adapt by assigning shorter readings that better align with test formats.

“A Stanford education professor told me that in doing so, we've sacrificed young people's ability to grapple with long-form texts in general.”
— Rose Horowitz [16:06]

Conversation with Nat Malkus: National Literacy Decline

Guest: Nat Malkus, American Enterprise Institute.

Key Discussion Points:

• Broader Literacy Trends: Malkus presents data indicating that literacy scores among fourth and eighth graders, as well as adults, have been declining steadily over the past decade, independent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Disproportionate Decline Among Lower Performers: The decline is most pronounced among students at the lower end of the performance spectrum (10th and 25th percentiles), while top performers have maintained relatively stable scores.

“The highest performing students, they've been pretty much flat. They took a little bit of a hit during the pandemic and are largely treading water. The kids on the low end... they've taken a huge nosedive.”
— Nat Malkus [35:20]

• Comparison with Other Countries: When juxtaposed with international data from TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), the U.S. exhibits the most significant widening of achievement gaps between top and bottom performers.

• Policy Shifts Impacting Education: Malkus identifies the transition from No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) as a potential catalyst for declining literacy. ESSA reduced federal oversight, granting states more flexibility, which may have inadvertently led to reduced emphasis on reading proficiency.

“No Child Left Behind put in place both the measurement of reading scores and some accountability measures... ESSA sort of defanged that.”
— Nat Malkus [44:08]

• Teaching Philosophies: The shift away from phonics-based education toward whole-language approaches has also been implicated, although Malkus notes that the quality of reading instruction has been suboptimal for an extended period.

Analysis Factors: Policy Shifts, Pedagogy Changes, and the Rise of Screens

1. Educational Policy Changes:

• Transition from No Child Left Behind to ESSA diminished federal accountability, potentially leading to less rigorous reading curricula.
• Emphasis shifted to standardized testing and informational texts, sidelining comprehensive literature education.

2. Pedagogical Shifts:

• Move away from phonics-based instruction toward whole-language approaches may have undermined foundational reading skills.
• Teachers increasingly prioritize teaching specific skills and media literacy, sometimes at the expense of deep, sustained engagement with full-length texts.

3. The Digital Disruption:

• The proliferation of smartphones, social media, and streaming services has led to a significant reduction in leisure reading.
• Derek Thompson posits that the "attention economy" fosters shorter attention spans and a preference for bite-sized, easily digestible content.

“Screens... have a big functionality to reduce our concentration time on anything. We're just looking at smaller chunks of coherent information.”
— Rose Horowitz [54:16]

• Displacement Effect: Increased screen time displaces activities that promote deep reading and critical thinking, particularly affecting lower-performing students who might lack alternative cognitively stimulating engagements.

Conclusions and Implications

Derek Thompson synthesizes the discussions, emphasizing that the decline in reading is both a symptom and a catalyst of a broader cultural shift from a literate to an oral society. This transformation affects not only educational outcomes but also the very fabric of intellectual and empathetic capacities within society.

“The ability to concentrate and embody a topic and to be conversant with it and to create within that space is productive... Most of the other short concentration pieces are consumption oriented.”
— Bill Simmons (Nat Malkus) [55:49]

Thompson underscores the importance of reading in fostering critical thinking, empathy, and the capacity to engage with complex ideas. The erosion of these skills poses a significant challenge to both individual cognitive development and societal progress.

Optimistic Notes:

• Some educators and institutions are actively combating the decline by reintroducing comprehensive reading programs and offering opportunities for students to engage with full-length texts for pleasure.
• Renewed emphasis on phonics and science-based reading instruction in certain states signals a potential turnaround.

“There was something heartening about hearing people trying to retrain their attention.”
— Rose Horowitz [30:57]

Final Thoughts

"The End of Reading" serves as a clarion call to recognize the profound implications of declining literacy and shifting communication mediums. As society increasingly leans towards visual and auditory information consumption, the foundational skills honed through reading may wane, with far-reaching consequences for education, professional competency, and cultural depth.

Thompson leaves listeners contemplating the necessity of reversing this trend, advocating for a recommitment to reading as a cornerstone of intellectual and societal health.

Note: The timestamps included with quotes are approximations based on the transcript provided.