The reading crisis is changing the conversation
During my years at TIME magazine, the newsroom had a rule of thumb: If something happens once, it’s news. Twice is a coincidence. Three times? That’s a trend.
August 06, 2026
News
The reading crisis is changing the conversation
The Fordham Institute • Robert Pondiscio
America’s reading crisis may be changing more than classroom methods; it is reopening questions about what children should know, which books they should encounter, and whether a common inheritance still matters. As confidence in skills-first, student-directed approaches weakens, the renewed emphasis on knowledge, canonical texts, and deliberate teaching points toward ideas long central to classical education.
Robert Pondiscio
The Fordham Institute
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