In Ancient Greece, reading was coveted as a crucial skill at the height of canonical knowledge. Nowadays, reading is much less appreciated; an inconvenient practice that expends too much mental energy for full engagement. By contrast, the ancient philosophers embraced the lack of simplicity attributed to reading. They promoted its creative interpretations, urging the reader to consider each literary text from philosophical, spiritual, scientific and political avenues. By contrast, the modern world lacks such emphasis on the written word and often forgets the importance of reading within education and the workforce. Currently, only a small minority of the population reads, partly due to the attention and patience required to grasp the meaning of a literary text fully. Arguably, the declining frequency of readers worldwide can exacerbate numerous issues within education systems, beginning with the heightened loss of intellect, speech articulation, and accurate interpretations of pivotal concepts. Most often, these studied concepts originate from classical prose and thus cannot be logically understood and applied to the real world without intentional and valid reading skills. As we move forward in a world that prioritizes instant gratification, we lose the value of reading, causing the deterioration of our education’s quality and discourse with one another.
Predominantly, the impacts of declined reading in education unfold from the overall reduction in national reading rates. According to a survey released by the National Endowment for the Arts, the proportion of American adults reading literature dropped to less than half between 1992 and 2002. Furthermore, in 2022, the rate dropped to 37.2%, representing a loss of over 20 million adult American readers. This widespread reduction of engagement with literature across the country is correlated with increased accessibility of passive methods of information recall, including television, radio and most significantly, artificial intelligence modules. Such technological advancements tend to hinder the necessity of reading, reducing the time needed to understand complex ideas. They therefore provide more efficient and time-effective engagement for the user. Though the enhanced efficiency of such outlets may be attractive, passive forms of technology impose great detriment on information systems with their foundations in reading classical texts and studies, with education at the forefront of the affected systems. Consider – what would happen to an educational institution if its students were representative of the statistics above? Would a student feel as secure in their collective academic discussion if each interlocutor’s source of information originated elsewhere than traditional reading methods? The simple answer is no, the student should not feel secure. Primarily, it is irrational to artificially engage in a topic that attracts its roots from the written word. One cannot derive their information from a search engine that poses as an insufficient alternative. To extend, the search engines in question are based on algorithmic iterations of information, rather than cohesive logic and thinking. As such traits are considered pivotal for the consolidation of knowledge, reliance on these methods would inevitably reduce intellect by diminishing the integrity of the student’s understanding and engagement with material.
Contrary to the logical progression of this argument, many of the current youth will respond, yes, they would still feel secure. To preserve the integrity of education, they should not. Indisputably, AI is the strongest culprit for reduced engagement and understanding of reading, particularly among young individuals in higher education. In 2024, a global survey from the Digital Education Council reiterated the overwhelming surge of AI, as 86% of all students reported the self-inclusion of AI in their daily academic work and assignments. As the NDA survey evaluates the overall numbers of declined readers in the national population, it calls into question the root causes and consequences on individual comprehension and writing caliber instigated by the reading decline. Tangentially, in a 2023 study from Duke University, students’ comprehension of texts with additional assistance from AI encountered a 12% decrease in accuracy. This proves calamitous for the quality of intellect on university campuses, transitioning into weak representations for lower education systems to abide by. Theorize the impacts when combining the decreased accuracy of comprehension with the multitude of students relying on AI. Naturally, the majority of academic material would lose its prior quality and become tainted by the auto-generated interpretations of AI. If AI replaces the human perspective, the text interpreted becomes victim to objective interpretation, disrespecting both our brain capacity and the value of the text. In tandem, the overall educational experience loses its integrity by replacing books with objective interpretations of intellectual topics. It is strictly impossible to benefit from the intellect produced by AI’s algorithmic responses, which are verily devoid of the central educational principles of creativity, subjectivity and free thinking.
Thus, if the frequency of reading continues to decline among adults and students, there will undoubtedly be grave threats to future educational discourse and instruction. As AI becomes more accessible, students are more prone to avoid the additional effort required from reading, thus losing the ability to attain raw intellect based on their independent thoughts and perceptions. If our educational habits transition to become concentrated on passive information recall, we disrespect the origins of academic inquiry and instill great instability within classrooms. As we consider the role of books compared to AI, we must not forget their potency and instead maintain the value of their variegated messages that contribute to our potential for authentic and undisturbed intellect.
