Reading Becomes a Chore

• In the final section of the first paper, Stedman looks at how standards-based instruction has discouraged students from being recreational readers. Reading has become a chore associated with slogging though homework and cramming for tests. It has thus lost much of its appeal as a leisure activity. In 2004, a third of U.S. 17-year-olds reported they never read on their own or did so only a few times a year. This rate has doubled in 20 years. As students go through school, they become less interested in reading. While a majority of 9-year-olds report reading for fun regularly, only about a fifth of high school students do.

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