A survey cited in a 2007 Washington Post article revealed that a quarter of Americans did not read a single book in the year before the article’s publication.
When I read articles like this, articles which point to the decline of reading and general intellectualism in America, I am concerned. But much of my concern is not for my peers at Georgetown. Honestly, when more than half of the jokes I hear on a daily basis pertain to current events or literature, I question whether some of us on the Hilltop might actually be too literate. The average Georgetown student possesses an understanding and appreciation of science, literature and current events that far surpasses that of the typical American.
Indeed, a college degree signifies that one has attained a superior level of knowledge. Traditionally, this meant that one had read and contemplated the most important written works relevant to his or her area of interest.
When you consider how Georgetown students spend our weeks, however, that assertion could be cast into doubt. With an awe-inspiring number of academic and extracurricular commitments commonplace, the students who consistently complete 100 percent of their assigned readings are few and far between. The overwhelming majority of us skim through readings and finish stringing papers together hours before they’re due. These processes help us survive and even thrive as we make our way through Georgetown’s curriculum. We distill thousands of pages of reading into five pages of notes containing the information needed to earn a decent grade, telling ourselves that professors understand that not everyone will complete all of the reading.
But when we don’t read texts in their entirety, and speed our way through those that we do cover in full so that we can move on to something else, we arguably do not engage with the great texts and ideas in our chosen fields to the extent that we should. It’s not necessarily that we’re not mastering challenging material; it’s just that we’re not aware of what we’re doing and its intrinsic value.
I raise the point about Americans reading less because that, quite literally, is what is happening to Georgetown students. We are not doing all of the readings we are assigned for classes and few of us are left with enough time to undertake substantial readings outside of classes. We may in fact read less than our counterparts 25 years ago did, back when extracting a factoid needed for a research paper couldn’t be accomplished by typing keywords into a search engine. But there’s still plenty of intellectual challenge in our lives.
Looking at the broader social question about reading, people may still be absorbing the same amount of informational content that they always have but are reading less because they get the information that used to be contained only in books and periodicals from their iPhones and YouTube videos. Social norms around communication have changed, and with them the way that undergraduates structure their days and their lives. This new paradigm makes it less necessary to fully engage with academic subject matter. When you’re skimming through a text to extract the essential pieces of information in between checking email and responding to text messages, it’s easy to ignore portions of the text. Tuning out seemingly extraneous segments of the text is more difficult if you sit down with a book and read it cover to cover, undistracted by your inbox or the ringing of your phone.
I’m not calling for any of this to change. This modus operandi is here to stay, no matter how much I or anyone else — however influential — may decry it. Furthermore, many of us feel most content when balancing a heavy course load, a dizzying array of extracurriculars and a full social calendar. Structuring our schedules such that we wouldn’t have to take shortcuts with schoolwork might come at the price of our happiness.
I’m just suggesting that in this season of resolutions and new beginnings, students try to approach their studies with increased mindfulness. Take a few moments every day to listen to professors lecture without having Gmail open in the background. For five minutes each night, ignore the text messages streaming into your phone while you do your reading. Appreciate classes at Georgetown for more than the points they add to your GPA. The chance to focus almost solely on academic life, comes only during the undergraduate years for many. In the frenzy of life on campus, it can be easy to lose sight of the uniqueness of the opportunities that we have before us. I am as guilty of it as anyone else is. But to lose sight of that immense possibility would be a mistake, and I believe that it is important to carve out moments to savor the challenge that is a college education.
Peter Brigham is a freshman in the School of Foreign Service. He is a member of the SFS Academic Council Communications Committee.
