It's definitely the case that the quality of public discourse has declined. Media in general has had a part to play in this as competition for eyeballs drives sensational and emotive narratives. If people didn't prefer it though, they wouldn't produce it, sadly, so it's a structural outcome of the way our media is funded.
It's quite hard to get discussion of policy in serious terms at all, most are caught up in the psychodrama. It has to be said many politicians don't help.
In terms of education, the biggest lever schools have on the educational outcome of children in school is the quality of the teaching. Investment in excellent teacher CPD, including how to foster young people capable of looking at multiple facets of complex ideas would be beneficial. Banning phones in schools to remove distractions from the teaching should definitely be part of the solution so thank you for pushing that through. Jess Phillips resignation letter was eye opening in how timid the current PM is about tackling online harms.
I will say there are now substantial numbers of young people not accessing school at all. In Wakefield we have enough Elective Home Education to fill a secondary school. I really worry about the provision many of these children are accessing. The rise in EHE has many causes. If a parent goes to an online forum to express their frustration about a school issue, many will suggest the nuclear option of EHE as first course of action. School behaviour management has become quite rigid, which suits many fairly well as classroom conduct is improved and learning, but for those who really struggle to fall into line, withdrawal can look like the best option. Alternative Provisions can be a good solution but the places are in shortage and access is a postcode lottery. I would really recommend looking at EHE young people because while many parents will do a great job, we know that EHE young people are more likely to have additional needs and to become NEET.
Disassociate reading from school or the feeling of work. Dont set comprehension questions or homework for it. Studying a book is the best way to not enjoy it. My primary school before it was famous simply read Harry Potter to us on the carpet for the pure hell of it and I was entranced.
It's a bitter pill to swallow but reading is and has been as distorting of human cognition as the smartphone. We just don't see it because we are the proverbial fish who don't know what water is. All the debates about how great literacy is/has been are dominated by big readers, so they would say that wouldn't they? Particularly as many of them earn their money writing.
Talking face to face is what we're made for. Reading is about as authentic a human experience as an OnlyFans romance. Never mind that many enjoy it; that's not the point.
I'd be interested to read (!) of some actual evidence to support the thesis in your first sentence. I'd also point out that reading and conversation are hardly mutually exclusive. On the contrary, the former greatly enhances the quality of the latter.
This seems to me the equivalent of saying that as both antibiotics and crack cocaine are chemically synthesised substances that have caused changes to human societies therefore both fall under the same category of perniciousness.
Great article, Neil. I fully support the policy to ban smartphone use and social media amongst children. And I wish we could regulate social media companies to incentivise them to favour longer-form content, including video and written posts.
I began teaching at FE level in the early 1990s then moved into HE, before retiring 5 years ago after more than 30 years. Students were required to have access to textbooks and there were prescribed sets of short readings that were sold as collated photocopies. Students took notes in lectures. Slowly the note taking stopped after lectures were first audio taped, then videotaped. Copies of the PowerPoint slides are now provided. We stopped expecting students to buy the text and now they are accessed for free online. Except they're not. When I retired up to 1/3 of the entire cohort did not even bother to login to the textbook during the whole semester. Not once. We used to call it "reading for a degree". It's more like story time before your afternoon nap at kindergarten.
I would try to reorient most university undergraduate courses around in-person reading and writing. This would not only ensure that to receive a degree one would need to have considerable experience of reading and writing at length but also help to mitigate the increasing use of AI by students to produce essays and other material. Of course this would need to come with much wider reform of undergraduate admissions and courses.
It's definitely the case that the quality of public discourse has declined. Media in general has had a part to play in this as competition for eyeballs drives sensational and emotive narratives. If people didn't prefer it though, they wouldn't produce it, sadly, so it's a structural outcome of the way our media is funded.
It's quite hard to get discussion of policy in serious terms at all, most are caught up in the psychodrama. It has to be said many politicians don't help.
In terms of education, the biggest lever schools have on the educational outcome of children in school is the quality of the teaching. Investment in excellent teacher CPD, including how to foster young people capable of looking at multiple facets of complex ideas would be beneficial. Banning phones in schools to remove distractions from the teaching should definitely be part of the solution so thank you for pushing that through. Jess Phillips resignation letter was eye opening in how timid the current PM is about tackling online harms.
I will say there are now substantial numbers of young people not accessing school at all. In Wakefield we have enough Elective Home Education to fill a secondary school. I really worry about the provision many of these children are accessing. The rise in EHE has many causes. If a parent goes to an online forum to express their frustration about a school issue, many will suggest the nuclear option of EHE as first course of action. School behaviour management has become quite rigid, which suits many fairly well as classroom conduct is improved and learning, but for those who really struggle to fall into line, withdrawal can look like the best option. Alternative Provisions can be a good solution but the places are in shortage and access is a postcode lottery. I would really recommend looking at EHE young people because while many parents will do a great job, we know that EHE young people are more likely to have additional needs and to become NEET.
Public libraries are not helping. They are pushing “Digital” and have an unappealing brand image, especially for boys.
Disassociate reading from school or the feeling of work. Dont set comprehension questions or homework for it. Studying a book is the best way to not enjoy it. My primary school before it was famous simply read Harry Potter to us on the carpet for the pure hell of it and I was entranced.
It's a bitter pill to swallow but reading is and has been as distorting of human cognition as the smartphone. We just don't see it because we are the proverbial fish who don't know what water is. All the debates about how great literacy is/has been are dominated by big readers, so they would say that wouldn't they? Particularly as many of them earn their money writing.
Talking face to face is what we're made for. Reading is about as authentic a human experience as an OnlyFans romance. Never mind that many enjoy it; that's not the point.
I'd be interested to read (!) of some actual evidence to support the thesis in your first sentence. I'd also point out that reading and conversation are hardly mutually exclusive. On the contrary, the former greatly enhances the quality of the latter.
This seems to me the equivalent of saying that as both antibiotics and crack cocaine are chemically synthesised substances that have caused changes to human societies therefore both fall under the same category of perniciousness.
People say they know about trade offs but then act like some activities have none
I prefer civilisation to barbarism personally.
That's precisely the hubris that literacy fosters. You know nothing about barbarism personally
Great article, Neil. I fully support the policy to ban smartphone use and social media amongst children. And I wish we could regulate social media companies to incentivise them to favour longer-form content, including video and written posts.
I began teaching at FE level in the early 1990s then moved into HE, before retiring 5 years ago after more than 30 years. Students were required to have access to textbooks and there were prescribed sets of short readings that were sold as collated photocopies. Students took notes in lectures. Slowly the note taking stopped after lectures were first audio taped, then videotaped. Copies of the PowerPoint slides are now provided. We stopped expecting students to buy the text and now they are accessed for free online. Except they're not. When I retired up to 1/3 of the entire cohort did not even bother to login to the textbook during the whole semester. Not once. We used to call it "reading for a degree". It's more like story time before your afternoon nap at kindergarten.
I would try to reorient most university undergraduate courses around in-person reading and writing. This would not only ensure that to receive a degree one would need to have considerable experience of reading and writing at length but also help to mitigate the increasing use of AI by students to produce essays and other material. Of course this would need to come with much wider reform of undergraduate admissions and courses.
Really interesting article. Why aren't more of our MPs this sensible?