Nadya Williams

Multiple recent stories offered more signs of what I consider to be an unfolding civilizational decline. First, a student in Hartford, CT, who had attended local public schools from age six, graduated from high school without knowing how to read or write. At all. She had used speech-to-text software to write her papers. After graduating on the honor roll, she is now enrolled at the University of Connecticut. She is also suing her former school district for educational neglect.

The same week in the Atlantic, Rose Horowitch reported on “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books.” Professors she interviewed at top institutions—Columbia, Princeton, UVA—reported the same experience. Students’ ability to read complete books, cover to cover, has been eroded to nothing over the past two decades. Because some students—notably, at public middle and high schools—have not had the experience of reading books in their entirety, they arrive at college without possessing this skill. Some sheepishly reported to professors that they’ve never read a book in full before.

Rounding up the trinity, also the same week, a menswear editor on social media commented on the poor aesthetic of overcrowded home libraries in small spaces—such as those in which urban dwellers often find themselves: “In places where housing costs have skyrocketed, living with a giant collection of books can be unpleasant. At some point, I switched to digital where possible.”