National survey cites decreased reading

MAT-SU -- Literary reading has dramatically decreased throughout America, according to a survey released last month by the National Endowment for the Arts. The survey, entitled Reading at Risk, reports a loss of 20 million potential readers since 1982.

Declining readership is disconcerting to education administrators in the Mat-Su Borough School District as they attempt to promote reading and literacy for students and their parents.

The survey asked more than 17,000 adults if, during the previous 12 months, they had read any novels, short stories, poetry or plays in their leisure time that were not required for work or school. Less than 47 percent of the people said yes.

Young adults have declined from being the group most likely to read literature to the group least likely (with the exception of those 65 years old and older). In 1982, nearly 61 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 34 read a work of literature, compared to slightly less than 50 percent in 2002.

Bob Doyle, chief school administrator for the Mat-Su Borough School District said he is concerned about the lack of reading and has set a goal to promote reading in Mat-Su schools.

One of the major motivations for kids to start reading, he said, is seeing their parents read. Doyle said that while it is important to listen to children read and help them read, parents need to be reading their own books to set an example.

"We need to make time for reading," Doyle said. "Just like having a family dinner, reading takes a conscious effort."

According to the survey, adult literature readers watched an average of 2.7 hours of television each day, while those who did not read literary works watched an average of 3.1 hours. Adults who did not watch TV at all in a typical day were 48 percent more likely to be frequent readers than those who watched one to three hours daily.

At an August press conference, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia said the report documents a national crisis.

"Reading develops a capacity for focused attention and imaginative growth that enriches both private and public life," Gioia said. "The decline in reading among every segment of the adult population reflects a general collapse in advanced literacy. To lose this human capacity -- and all the diverse benefits it fosters -- impoverishes both cultural and civic life."

Even Start is a federally funded program in the Mat-Su Borough that attempts to increase children's literacy through promoting literacy in parents.

According to Laurine Domke, director of federal programs for the Mat-Su Borough School District, Even Start encourages families to come up with family literacy goals.

This year, the Even Start program will be used to help Burchell High School students come up with literacy activities for their whole family.

"Promoting family literacy is important," Domke said, "because children tend to be more prepared for school when they grow up in literacy-rich environments."

The survey indicates literary reading also affects lifestyles, with literary readers nearly three times as likely to attend performing-arts events than those who do not read. In addition, adult readers are almost four times more likely to visit an art museum, more than two and a half times as likely to do volunteer work and more than one and a half times more likely to attend or participate in sports events.

David Cheezem, owner of Fireside Books in downtown Palmer, said he thinks many parents have recently started reading because of their kids.

"A huge portion of my customers are buying for their kids, they gravitate to the kids' section," Cheezem said. "It's kind of a role reversal. Harry Potter got parents reading that weren't reading before."

Nancy Messinger, longtime manager of Shalom Christian Book Store in Wasilla, has seen some troubling trends, however, regarding readership. Messinger said store sales have remained fairly constant but the kinds of books and merchandise sold have changed.

"We sold more theology and reference-type books 20 years ago," Messinger said. "Now we sell a lot more music and gifts. We still sell the classic books and make a point of trying to keep them on the shelf, but unfortunately people don't read as much as they used to."

The effects of sagging readership numbers have also affected the ways Valley residents use libraries.

Kathy Martin-Albright, acting director for the Wasilla Public Library, said she has seen a steady increase in Internet use. Martin-Albright also said the collections that have grown most are not literary and reference books but audio and video collections -- with the collection of videos growing the fastest.

Cathy Petrie has been a librarian at Wasilla Public Library for 18 years and has served as youth services librarian for the last 12 years, coordinating the summer reading program and other literary events at the library.

Petrie said that in 30 years, the summer reading program has gone from a very personalized program in which kids did reports and projects on their books to more of an incentive program with prizes. Petrie said some of the changes are due to the fact that people's lives are so busy.

"There's a lot of competition now," Petrie said. "You've got video games and Internet and things that you just never even heard of back then."

Petrie said a lot of parents don't even know what books are out there for their kids to read.

"We've had different groups come in and introduce parents to the library, to get them to sit down and read with their children from the time they are tiny," she said.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.