Why Your Kid’s Not Reading—and Elite College Kids Aren’t Either

Last updated: February 27, 2025

Hey there, book lovers—Shelly here, riffing off Jared Henderson’s brilliant video about why nobody’s reading anymore. Picture this: Columbia University freshmen—brainiacs, right?—whining that a book a week is too much. Too much! Jared digs into this jaw-dropper, and as Laura Lurns—child psychologist, ex-teacher, and reading evangelist—I’m nodding along. My years in the classroom scream “yep” to his theories: phonics got sidelined, tests hijacked learning, and phones stole our focus. But here’s the kicker: it’s not hopeless. Let’s unpack this literacy pickle and figure out how to get kids (and college kids) back to the page.

Phonics Flop: When Words Stopped Making Sense

Jared nails it—phonics ruled reading forever, breaking “c-a-t” into purrs kids could master. Then the 1960s swooned over “whole language,” betting kids would soak up words like sponges if we just tossed them books. Spoiler: they sank. Decades later, we know phonics wins—kids who missed it slog through text like it’s mud. I’ve seen it in my preschool days: without those sound blocks, reading’s a chore, not a thrill. Whole language left a generation—now adults—thinking books are the enemy. Brains need basics, not vibes.

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Test Mania: Excerpts Over Epics
Here’s where my story crashes into Jared’s. As a bright-eyed sixth-grade teacher, fresh from homeschool phonics glory, I dove into public school dreaming of sharing novels. Nope. Day one, the mantra hit: “Teach snippets, not books—tests rule.” Funding, class placement, everything hinged on standardized scores—No Child Left Behind turned kids into excerpt machines. I’d sneak in a novel—approved ones!—and get caught like a rebel smuggling contraband. “They’ll face paragraphs on the test, not chapters,” they’d scold. Five years of this broke my spirit—kids never stretched their reading legs.

Author Quote "

Students are not going to encounter an entire novel on a test—rather, they’re going to be encountering excerpts of informational text.

Phone Doom: Stamina’s Silent Killer
Jared’s third zinger? Phones. Even elite students who can read lack the grit to slog through a novel—they’re hooked on dopamine drips from scrolling. I’ve coached parents on this: a kid glued to TikTok isn’t “lazy”—they’ve never built stamina for “boring” tasks like books. Schools don’t help—snippets don’t train focus; screens shred it. My public school kids couldn’t sit still for 20 pages, let alone 200. It’s not their fault; it’s a world where attention’s a ping-pong ball, and reading’s a marathon they’ve never run.

Key Takeaways:

Whole language swapped phonics for struggle, leaving readers behind.

Standardized tests prioritize excerpts, not books, killing stamina.

Phones zap focus, but a growth mindset and parental push can rebuild it.

Private School Pivot: A Glimmer of Hope
Here’s the cheerful twist—I jumped ship to private schools, and wow, what a shift. Strict phone bans—off, away, invisible—freed up eight glorious hours. No buzzing distractions, just kids connecting with me, each other, and—get this—whole novels. We read cover to cover, and they loved it. As an occupational therapist, I saw brains bloom; as a neuroplasticity nerd, I knew why: challenge rewires. A growth mindset kicked in—effort, not talent, made readers. Public schools could learn this trick: ditch phones, embrace books, watch kids soar.

Author Quote "

Even though many of these students who have gotten into the universities are capable of reading a novel a week, they often lack the attention span to do so

Parents, Lead the Charge: Confidence Awaits
The villain? Apathy—schools coasting on tests, parents shrugging at screens. Jared’s right: reading’s fading, but you’re the first teacher. Ban phones at home, read aloud, sneak in a novel like I did—show kids it’s worth it. The stakes? A nation where 54% of adults can’t read sixth-grade text, but your kid can buck that trend with confidence to tackle anything. Want more? Need a good phonics based readng program that fixes this problem. Try the 5-minute reading fix , your playbook to turn page-phobes into book buffs. Click it—let’s rewrite this story together!

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Why Your Kid’s Not Reading—and Elite College Kids Aren’t Either

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