College professors face an emerging challenge: We know students are no longer reading entire books

College reading assignments have shrunk significantly. The Conversation reports that high school English teachers now assign an average of two point eight-one books per year to read in full, compared with an average of four books annually in earlier years. This mirrors a broader decline in adult reading: forty-nine percent of Americans reported reading at least one book in the past year, compared with fifty-five percent a decade ago. At the college level, professors grapple with students who resist dense, challenging texts, with some lowering expectations rather than pushing back. One Amherst College professor argues that reading long, complex books remains essential for developing critical thinking—and that explaining why reading matters may help students reconnect with the practice.

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