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Started By
Message
Gen Z are arriving to college unable to even read a sentence
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:25 am
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:25 am
SMH
Gen Z are arriving to college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
As Gen Z ditch books at record levels, students are arriving to classrooms unable to complete assigned reading on par with previous expectations. It’s leaving colleges no choice but to lower their expectations.
One shocked professor has described young adults showing up to class, unable to read a single sentence.
“It’s not even an inability to critically think,” Jessica Hooten Wilson, a professor of great books and humanities at Pepperdine University told Fortune. “It’s an inability to read sentences.”
Her observation reflects a broader trend: nearly half of all Americans did not read a single book in 2025, with the habit plunging some 40% over the last decade. And even with young people embracing BookTok, a TikTok subcommunity dedicated to books and literature, Gen Z’s reading habits still lag behind all other generations. Americans aged 18 to 29 read on average just 5.8 books in 2025, according to YouGov.
“I feel like I am tap dancing and having to read things aloud because there’s no way that anyone read it the night before,” Wilson admitted. “Even when you read it in class with them, there’s so much they can’t process about the very words that are on the page.”
LINK
Gen Z are arriving to college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
As Gen Z ditch books at record levels, students are arriving to classrooms unable to complete assigned reading on par with previous expectations. It’s leaving colleges no choice but to lower their expectations.
One shocked professor has described young adults showing up to class, unable to read a single sentence.
“It’s not even an inability to critically think,” Jessica Hooten Wilson, a professor of great books and humanities at Pepperdine University told Fortune. “It’s an inability to read sentences.”
Her observation reflects a broader trend: nearly half of all Americans did not read a single book in 2025, with the habit plunging some 40% over the last decade. And even with young people embracing BookTok, a TikTok subcommunity dedicated to books and literature, Gen Z’s reading habits still lag behind all other generations. Americans aged 18 to 29 read on average just 5.8 books in 2025, according to YouGov.
“I feel like I am tap dancing and having to read things aloud because there’s no way that anyone read it the night before,” Wilson admitted. “Even when you read it in class with them, there’s so much they can’t process about the very words that are on the page.”
LINK
This post was edited on 1/13/26 at 9:35 am
32
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:28 am to djmed
quote:How many Gen-Z posters do we have?
”It’s not even an inability to critically think,” Jessica Hooten Wilson, a professor of great books and humanities at Pepperdine University told Fortune. “It’s an inability to read sentences.”
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:29 am to djmed
I roll my windows up when I drive by colleges now......or they will throw diplomas in my truck 
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:31 am to RelentlessAnalysis
How did they get accepted?
Trade schools are harder now. What a joke.
Trade schools are harder now. What a joke.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:34 am to djmed
How is this possible when all of them stay on their phones 24/7
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:34 am to djmed
Parents of this generation had no idea the damage technology was doing to their kids. I feel for them.
Parents of young children today have no excuse. The damages of technology addiction are right in front of your face. Don’t let your kids grow up to be retarded
Parents of young children today have no excuse. The damages of technology addiction are right in front of your face. Don’t let your kids grow up to be retarded
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:35 am to djmed
This is 100% the fault of GWB’s “No Child Left Behind”, Obama’s “Race to the Top”, and the corrupt Teachers Unions.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:36 am to djmed
The thing that is most shocking to me is how completely inept Gen Z is on actual computers. They know how to use phones and tablets fine but put an actual PC in front of them and it’s disturbing how many of them can’t even send an email.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:38 am to djmed
Which colleges are accepting students who cannot read sentences? All they have to do is get rid of the woke diversity BS and go back to test scores and merit and this problem goes away.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:39 am to djmed
I graduated high school in 2010. Had a history class taught by an assistant baseball coach and we went around the room and each person read a paragraph. It was fricking painful to listen to people trying to get through it. I can't imagine how bad it is now.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:43 am to djmed
I had a new soldier come in who couldn't read well enough to get through administrative in-processing to the unit. I have no idea how they got through IET, she was a generator mechanic by MOS but I imagine there is still fair bit of reading for the -10's and diagnostic tools. She managed to get herself a DUI so a self-corrected issue as far as getting her back out but just a sad indictment on our education systems.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:44 am to djmed
quote:
It’s leaving colleges no choice but to lower their expectations.
Really? "no choice"?
How about fail them out? Is that not a choice anymore? Or maybe how about teach them how to read.
I remember when educational institutions used to actually teach people.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:45 am to Cregg
How is this even possible? Reading is not that fricking hard. It's a failure of school systems and parents.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:49 am to kingbob
quote:
This is 100% the fault of GWB’s “No Child Left Behind”, Obama’s “Race to the Top”, and the corrupt Teachers Unions.
True, but how this would go if done properly...
20-30% of students from each grade level getting held back every single year.
That's probably what should happen. But, how do you think the thousands and thousands of parents at every school in every state would react to almost half the students failing their grade?
There would be an parental uprising and protests everywhere.. Conservatives would be blamed for racism against minority students for holding back illiterate students of color.. Every network on tv would also claim this as these leftist networks always do to help push the leftist narrative.
I would love to see it happen though. My son's graduating class of about 350 students had maybe 40 beta club members. Who can't make beta club??
Universities see students only as money of course. That's it. I work at a university. Enrollment is the only thing that matters. Don't fail them out, keep them enrolled and paying overpriced tuition.
And they don't need freaking laptops to learn.
I was in all the AP classes in high school, and all we had were overhead projectors. We learned Advanced Physics, Advanced Math, and Advanced Chemistry without laptops. Crazy huh?
This post was edited on 1/13/26 at 9:56 am
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:50 am to AUstar
Wait until you find out that the methodologies we have been using for decades in thousands of public schools across the country don’t teach students how to read.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:51 am to djmed
quote:
Gen Z are arriving to college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
I'm betting this article conveniently leaves out the demographics of these individuals.
DEI destroys.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 9:57 am to i am dan
Schools need to stop caving to parents complaining. They need to hold their ground and discipline students who are disruptive, hold back students who can’t reform, and if parents rebel and take their kids out of school, LET THEM!
Schools should NEVER let a kid graduate 4th grade who cannot read/write. They should repeat as many times as it takes or be sent to alternative schools until they are fully literate.
Schools should NEVER let a kid graduate 4th grade who cannot read/write. They should repeat as many times as it takes or be sent to alternative schools until they are fully literate.
Posted on 1/13/26 at 10:00 am to djmed
(no message)
This post was edited on 1/13/26 at 10:01 am
Posted on 1/13/26 at 10:01 am to kingbob
quote:
Schools need to stop caving to parents complaining. They need to hold their ground and discipline students who are disruptive, hold back students who can’t reform, and if parents rebel and take their kids out of school, LET THEM!
Schools should NEVER let a kid graduate 4th grade who cannot read/write. They should repeat as many times as it takes or be sent to alternative schools until they are fully literate.
I agree 100%.
Remember years and years ago how we were making fun of participation trophies.
This is the culmination of all that bullshite. Failure kids aren't allowed to fail.
This post was edited on 1/13/26 at 10:02 am
Posted on 1/13/26 at 10:02 am to djmed
They can’t do math either, though that’s been going on longer.
Imagine not being able to figure out 7+2=___+6.
Imagine not being able to figure out 7+2=___+6.
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