A Woman’s View: Students are reading fewer books in English class

SALT LAKE CITY — Students all over the country are not reading as many books in their English classes. Amanda Dickson, host of KSL NewRadio’s ‘A Woman’s View,’ discussed the topic with her guests during the show.

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Less is more

Jill Atwood, a communications strategist for the VA, said she’s a bookworm with teenage sons who don’t read.

“I have tried [to get my sons to read,]” she said. “I read to them every night before they went to bed. Like, I tried to make books a part of their life, and they just… don’t.”

As a teacher teaching in a digital media world, Atwood said she’s found she has to teach in a way where “less is more.”

“I’m telling [students] people don’t read,” Attwood said. “Your communications need to be short, sweet and to the point. They need to contain a video, a photo something less words because people don’t read. It breaks my heart, but as a as a teacher, I’ve got to play to the trends and what’s happening.”

Atwood added that the younger generation is missing out on what it feels like to read a good book. She says students aren’t required to read certain books in class anymore.

Reading expands a person’s vocabulary and mind

Executive Producer at Hale Center Theater, Sally Dietlein said she grew up with poetry and books instead of nursery rhymes.

Now, Dietlein said she has 18 grandchildren who read. One of them, a 12-year-old girl, loves to read and started reading late into the night around the age of six or seven.

“There is so much that we can get from literature. And when I have a conversation with her, I can go deep because she has had deep thoughts as she’s been reading,” Dietlein said. “There is a depth, and a beauty, and a phenomenal ability to analyze the world that comes from a well-read person.”

Dietlein referred to a past topic spoken about during ‘A Woman’s View’ when news headlines were brought up.

“[Headlines are the] thing that we take, and we do not take the time now to read, examine, research, look,” she said. “Because we are so into these little bits of information that we think are everything we need to know, and it isn’t.”

Ashley Thorn, marriage and family therapist with 4 Points Family Therapy said the brain is rewired when a person reads.

“There are things that happen in the brain when you dive deep into all these different kinds of, you know, literature,” Thorn said. “Rewiring’s that happen, you have more neuropathways being created, you have more frame of reference for things, you get better at critical thinking.”

Thorn said she agreed with Atwood’s point of view, saying the world is different and it’s a difficult thing to combat things like social media.

“And you know, like my husband doesn’t love to read. Doesn’t mean he’s not intelligent, doesn’t mean he doesn’t read certain things, you know,” Thorn said. “But like, he’s not going to like, sit with a book every night and my kids are the same way.”