Do Kids Dislike Reading Fiction for Pleasure Nowadays?

[Anonymous]

My two engineering major kids have always loved reading and still do.

[Anonymous]

Loads of kids read for fun. All of ours did and their close friends did growing up. They are all class of 2020-2025 and the ones in college all were in the top cohort of their high school and landed at Hopkins, Uchicago, 2 ivies, 3UVA, one swarthmore one duke. Ours still read a lot on college breaks, for fun, so do the college friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a young man going to college eager to major in history (a humanities major!), so I was surprised to hear him say he is not planning on taking any English courses unless he has to. When I pointed out that this is surprising since he has interests in the humanities (history), and people like this usually have *some* interest in literature, or at least reading for fun. His response: no one reads literature anymore because it is boring and stupid.

This is actually true of a lot of what they assign in English class. Few would read such “literature” for fun. What DS reads for fun is Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Lee Child, etc.

[Anonymous]

Not sure why anyone cares if you read fiction vs nonfiction. My kids aren’t huge readers, but only read nonfiction books that align with their interests. Sports biographies or interestingly Freakonomics type sports books…other kid likes STEM books.

I am happy they read at all, so not going to quibble over literature vs nonfiction.

[Anonymous]

Send them a link to DCUM.....pure fiction!!

[Anonymous]

They don't have time! I have high hopes that my kids will return to reading ... they used to love it so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why anyone cares if you read fiction vs nonfiction. My kids aren’t huge readers, but only read nonfiction books that align with their interests. Sports biographies or interestingly Freakonomics type sports books…other kid likes STEM books.

I am happy they read at all, so not going to quibble over literature vs nonfiction.

+1

[Anonymous]

If English departments would un-wokify their curricula, dumping Ibram X. Kendi/Robin DiAngelo and bringing back Dickens and Shakespare, young people might rediscover a love for good literature.

[Anonymous]

I have an engineering student who is a fiction fiend. Uses most of her money to buy new releases (Leah Bardugo, Cassandra Claire, etc). Also likes creative writing and classix lit. Many of her friends are similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not really. Modern fiction is pretty bad, especially the tiktok lit crowd. Sure you hav your shining stars, but kids are reading all the time in different formats and contexts so I’m not too worried about it.

to be honest old fiction is pretty bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If English departments would un-wokify their curricula, dumping Ibram X. Kendi/Robin DiAngelo and bringing back Dickens and Shakespare, young people might rediscover a love for good literature.

What a ridiculous comment. My kids have enjoyed reading all these types of pieces. Honestly, we place too much emphasis on old white guys, especially Shakespeare (I have a theatre degree). Don't get me wrong, these are exceptional authors. I particularly adore Dickens's wicked sense of humor. But, it's really important to have different perspectives from gender, race, class, time period. Lit is about experience. We have a breadth of experience that is underrepresented and needs more air time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If English departments would un-wokify their curricula, dumping Ibram X. Kendi/Robin DiAngelo and bringing back Dickens and Shakespare, young people might rediscover a love for good literature.

What a ridiculous comment. My kids have enjoyed reading all these types of pieces. Honestly, we place too much emphasis on old white guys, especially Shakespeare (I have a theatre degree). Don't get me wrong, these are exceptional authors. I particularly adore Dickens's wicked sense of humor. But, it's really important to have different perspectives from gender, race, class, time period. Lit is about experience. We have a breadth of experience that is underrepresented and needs more air time.

Shakespeare and Dickens are classics because they remained relevant over time, not because they were written by old white men. I agree that there should be more representation, but some of the works that are taught in K-12 are popular fiction than literature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If English departments would un-wokify their curricula, dumping Ibram X. Kendi/Robin DiAngelo and bringing back Dickens and Shakespare, young people might rediscover a love for good literature.

What a ridiculous comment. My kids have enjoyed reading all these types of pieces. Honestly, we place too much emphasis on old white guys, especially Shakespeare (I have a theatre degree). Don't get me wrong, these are exceptional authors. I particularly adore Dickens's wicked sense of humor. But, it's really important to have different perspectives from gender, race, class, time period. Lit is about experience. We have a breadth of experience that is underrepresented and needs more air time.

Shakespeare and Dickens are classics because they remained relevant over time, not because they were written by old white men. I agree that there should be more representation, but some of the works that are taught in K-12 are popular fiction than literature.

I was a history major in college, who avoided English classes like the plague. In high school we read Dickens and Shakespeare, and frankly I hated both (and other "classics" authors, like Steinbeck and Austen). Couldn't relate to them at all; they didn't seem relevant or interesting. And I'm white, fwiw, so it wasn't an issue of representation - the books were just really, really boring. I did like Salinger and Golding. I love reading, but most classical literature just doesn't do anything for me. There's nothing wrong with well-written popular fiction.

My high school kid reads a lot for pleasure, more than I do, and reads a variety - likes both Orwell and Bardugo. My sense is that's pretty typical around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If English departments would un-wokify their curricula, dumping Ibram X. Kendi/Robin DiAngelo and bringing back Dickens and Shakespare, young people might rediscover a love for good literature.

What a ridiculous comment. My kids have enjoyed reading all these types of pieces. Honestly, we place too much emphasis on old white guys, especially Shakespeare (I have a theatre degree). Don't get me wrong, these are exceptional authors. I particularly adore Dickens's wicked sense of humor. But, it's really important to have different perspectives from gender, race, class, time period. Lit is about experience. We have a breadth of experience that is underrepresented and needs more air time.

Shakespeare and Dickens are classics because they remained relevant over time, not because they were written by old white men. I agree that there should be more representation, but some of the works that are taught in K-12 are popular fiction than literature.

I was a history major in college, who avoided English classes like the plague. In high school we read Dickens and Shakespeare, and frankly I hated both (and other "classics" authors, like Steinbeck and Austen). Couldn't relate to them at all; they didn't seem relevant or interesting. And I'm white, fwiw, so it wasn't an issue of representation - the books were just really, really boring. I did like Salinger and Golding. I love reading, but most classical literature just doesn't do anything for me. There's nothing wrong with well-written popular fiction.

My high school kid reads a lot for pleasure, more than I do, and reads a variety - likes both Orwell and Bardugo. My sense is that's pretty typical around here.

Reading nonfiction/history has a different vibe than reading literature. My friend, a PhD student in history, couldn't stand literary analysis. Reading the classics requires a certain set of skills and even perseverance to grapple with older forms of English (or another language) and a historical period may be far from one's own. In most cases it takes more effort to read the classics than popular fiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, a sample of one burned out teenager makes your sweeping generalization valid.

+1 Search up the difference between anecdote and data.