A 2003 study of 15- to 26-year-olds' civic knowledge by the National Conference of State Legislatures concluded, ''Young people do not understand the ideals of citizenship . %���� Advanced literacy is a specific intellectual skill and social habit that depends on a great many educational, cultural, and economic factors.

If it were true that they substituted histories, biographies, or political works for literature, one might not worry. endobj She uses quotes and appeals to emotion. Indeed, we sometimes underestimate how large a role literature has played in the evolution of our national identity, especially in that literature often has served to introduce young people to events from the past and principles of civil society and governance. ''Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls." Why literature matters Good books help make a civil society.
%PDF-1.5 [A] strange thing has happened in the American arts during the past quarter century. !��#����-�}�.t7�X:��/�j���.�G�-�t��_�7�'���i����IV��47�!�j%�O���u�����?������3�u��:�� �\]��PK��m�����x�0\��L=.��Q}]�ċ�vf�$+�4��I����v�/���,o�E��_�����Ϻe�.���&[��W��ay�.�#~��a�7��?-��P�o� �s�]�Q�8�0���mY�@L;]l�;u��S~�MAc�5�R1k,�ySTTA�or�R��W��S���F��E��W�$����(��i�,��?�6Oj��J�jmO-p.��]Fբ1�$�A�-�8�%�����7AWTMͻ^�>�w��������ޫ�}��Ǿ���y�[��]��q�n�?4�(?�����n�����4���桩Q��Qf&ֶ ���[a7��F=��2�]��?�z�T��@���Tۆ�"-��,��;�C�mY.�+P��N��i��&L�����f�8��Rw���4�w4�����v˱O���q�Y� ��,�ʟ�L*",�F͹$�kըO��׵��,n���o�n�=���G`���i&E$��o�Ie11ͺh�YA7z��di���s@i^q���gPYDΧ��so���h�T���}c����͇7ނ�w��ݩ���lv�����\����o�X'ŮH�=���F�C'q�z@1�[+v����^���w�����]I0���;�e�(�ٴ�K�m�^����:����ow@����hc���!������@�Qì��M)Ē���-�ߖ+V�~��@Tc'�ڮs9-� In 1780 Massachusetts patriot John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, outlining his vision of how American culture might evolve.

Adams's bold prophecy proved correct. The declines have been most severe among younger adults (ages 18-24). Unlike the passive activities of watching television and DVDs or surfing the Web, reading is actually a highly active enterprise. By the mid 20th century, America boasted internationally preeminent traditions in literature, art, music, dance, theater, and cinema. 2 0 obj Likewise our notions of American populism come more from Walt Whitman's poetic vision than from any political tracts. Without a literary inheritance, the historical past is impoverished. One reason for their higher social and cultural interactions may lie in the kind of civic and historical knowledge that comes with literary reading. ''I must study politics and war," he prophesied, so ''that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy." and a M.B.A. from Stanford University and an M.A. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> . If the 21st-century American economy requires innovation and creativity, solid reading skills and the imaginative growth fostered by literary reading are central elements in that program. According to the 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, a population study designed and commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts (and executed by the US Bureau of the Census), arts participation by Americans has declined for eight of the nine major forms that are measured. She persuades everyone that the decline of reading in America would have a negative effect on today, and future’s society. . As more Americans lose this capability, our nation becomes less informed, active, and independent-minded. In 2001 the National Association of Manufacturers polled its members on skill deficiencies among employees. reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence. When the great Victorian thinker John Stuart Mill suffered a crippling depression in late-adolescence, the poetry of Wordsworth restored his optimism and self-confidence -- a ''medicine for my state of mind," he called it. The evidence of literature's importance to civic, personal, and economic health is too strong to ignore. Every day authors receive letters from readers that say, ''Your book changed my life."

One of the surprising findings of ''Reading at Risk" was that literary readers are markedly more civically engaged than nonreaders, scoring two to four times more likely to perform charity work, visit a museum, or attend a sporting event.
Corporate America makes similar complaints about a skill intimately related to reading -- writing.

It is probably no surprise that declining rates of literary reading coincide with declining levels of historical and political awareness among young people. Literary reading also enhances and enlarges our humility by helping us imagine and understand lives quite different from our own.