Carleton Cotner

We keep blaming teachers for declining literacy. But have we stopped to consider how dramatically children's lives have changed? We're raising a generation surrounded by 15-second videos, endless scrolling, and constant notifications. Many children spend more time swiping through content than sitting down with a book. Then we expect them to sit for 30 or 60 minutes, read complex passages, make inferences, and demonstrate deep comprehension on standardized tests. Scrolling is a sprint. Reading is a marathon. Children are becoming accustomed to information arriving in short bursts. They skim, swipe, and move on to the next thing. And when something doesn't immediately capture their attention, another video or notification is waiting. But reading requires something different. It takes patience, concentration, imagination, and the ability to stay engaged even when something is challenging. Those abilities develop through practice and experience. So if children are spending less time reading outside of school, why are we surprised when they struggle to sustain their attention while reading? And why is the teacher so often the one held responsible? Consider how many children grow up hearing bedtime stories, watching adults read, visiting libraries, or having conversations about books. Now consider how many spend those same hours in front of screens. Those experiences make a difference long before a child ever takes a reading assessment. Schools can teach children how to read, but they cannot control how children spend the other hours of their lives. And increasingly, we're asking teachers to compensate for cultural changes they had no part in creating. We also need to ask ourselves what we're doing inside schools. When we replace opportunities to read, explore, discuss, and enjoy books with more worksheets, test preparation, and assessments, are we actually helping children become better readers? A child who discovers the joy of reading is far more likely to pick up another book than one who associates reading primarily with answering questions on a test. Literacy develops through experiences, relationships, conversations, curiosity, and practice. It begins long before a standardized test and extends far beyond the classroom.