Derek Thompson

And this essay really struck me because I had just been to dinner with some friends in the area with kids. And I was telling them about this reporting that you were doing on students who cannot read books at Columbia University. And the mother goes, oh, my God, it's the same thing. with our kid. I don't understand it. They don't read books anymore in middle, early high school.

And this essay really struck me because I had just been to dinner with some friends in the area with kids. And I was telling them about this reporting that you were doing on students who cannot read books at Columbia University. And the mother goes, oh, my God, it's the same thing. with our kid. I don't understand it. They don't read books anymore in middle, early high school.

And this essay really struck me because I had just been to dinner with some friends in the area with kids. And I was telling them about this reporting that you were doing on students who cannot read books at Columbia University. And the mother goes, oh, my God, it's the same thing. with our kid. I don't understand it. They don't read books anymore in middle, early high school.

And I go, okay, that's obviously not true. Your child goes to one of the best schools in the Chapel Hill, Durham area. I'm going to leave the name of the school anonymous because I want to keep these folks anonymous. They certainly weren't on the record with me. But, you know, we call her child over and I say, you know, what do you mean you don't read books?

And I go, okay, that's obviously not true. Your child goes to one of the best schools in the Chapel Hill, Durham area. I'm going to leave the name of the school anonymous because I want to keep these folks anonymous. They certainly weren't on the record with me. But, you know, we call her child over and I say, you know, what do you mean you don't read books?

And I go, okay, that's obviously not true. Your child goes to one of the best schools in the Chapel Hill, Durham area. I'm going to leave the name of the school anonymous because I want to keep these folks anonymous. They certainly weren't on the record with me. But, you know, we call her child over and I say, you know, what do you mean you don't read books?

And they go, well, we just studied Animal Farm in our class and we read excerpts of Animal Farm and watched some YouTube videos about it. And I basically lose my mind. I'm like, Animal Farm is a children's It's like 90 pages long. So that was my anecdotal experience confirming your reporting.

And they go, well, we just studied Animal Farm in our class and we read excerpts of Animal Farm and watched some YouTube videos about it. And I basically lose my mind. I'm like, Animal Farm is a children's It's like 90 pages long. So that was my anecdotal experience confirming your reporting.

And they go, well, we just studied Animal Farm in our class and we read excerpts of Animal Farm and watched some YouTube videos about it. And I basically lose my mind. I'm like, Animal Farm is a children's It's like 90 pages long. So that was my anecdotal experience confirming your reporting.

You did much better than just go to someone else's house and happen to fall into a conversation about their children. You spoke to 30 professors and teachers for this story. Tell us how widespread this phenomenon is.

You did much better than just go to someone else's house and happen to fall into a conversation about their children. You spoke to 30 professors and teachers for this story. Tell us how widespread this phenomenon is.

You did much better than just go to someone else's house and happen to fall into a conversation about their children. You spoke to 30 professors and teachers for this story. Tell us how widespread this phenomenon is.

These are good anecdotes. You talk to a lot of professors at a lot of different universities. Do we have something here that is more systemic? Either someone like Gallup or Pew surveying thousands of students to see whether we have really clear data showing that high schoolers, college students are reading significantly fewer books.

These are good anecdotes. You talk to a lot of professors at a lot of different universities. Do we have something here that is more systemic? Either someone like Gallup or Pew surveying thousands of students to see whether we have really clear data showing that high schoolers, college students are reading significantly fewer books.

These are good anecdotes. You talk to a lot of professors at a lot of different universities. Do we have something here that is more systemic? Either someone like Gallup or Pew surveying thousands of students to see whether we have really clear data showing that high schoolers, college students are reading significantly fewer books.

If we're looking for reasons here, then as cliched as it might seem, I do think we have to start by looking at screens and social media. Let's keep this out of our voices first and keep it with your reporting. How did the professors and the teachers that you spoke to describe the way that screened media seemed to be eclipsing books for their students?

If we're looking for reasons here, then as cliched as it might seem, I do think we have to start by looking at screens and social media. Let's keep this out of our voices first and keep it with your reporting. How did the professors and the teachers that you spoke to describe the way that screened media seemed to be eclipsing books for their students?

If we're looking for reasons here, then as cliched as it might seem, I do think we have to start by looking at screens and social media. Let's keep this out of our voices first and keep it with your reporting. How did the professors and the teachers that you spoke to describe the way that screened media seemed to be eclipsing books for their students?

A theme of your reporting is that college students can't read entire books because of a pipeline problem. High schools aren't teaching full books. Middle schools are moving away from full books. What role do you think education policy at the middle and high school level is playing here?

A theme of your reporting is that college students can't read entire books because of a pipeline problem. High schools aren't teaching full books. Middle schools are moving away from full books. What role do you think education policy at the middle and high school level is playing here?