Early this summer I was interviewed by Rose Horowitch, an editor for The Atlantic. She told me that she had heard from a university professor that incoming students were struggling to keep up with the reading load. She explained that she was working on an article that would explore the problem of reading stamina and asked me to share my experiences in the high school classroom.
Rather, my experience is that young readers are eminently capable of critically engaging in long form content, but they’re rightfully demanding a seat at the table where decisions about texts are being made.
Thought that Atlantic article seemed sus. I see this skepticism of curricula as rooted in the growing distrust in experts and the cultural elite / college, and part of the attempt to undermine public education. It’s also tied to our collective sense of precarity and the need many parents feel to give their kids a leg up.