According to a study by Renaissance Learning, your average college freshman reads at between a seventh and eighth grade level.
Based on the summer reading books assigned by 341 American colleges, five of the seven top books had an average “readability formula” of 7.56 — meaning about “halfway through seventh grade.”
In addition, the lack of “difficulty and complexity” found in high school reading material is indicative of what colleges can assign to students once they enter higher education and professors aren’t requiring incoming students read at a college level.
“Nor are [colleges] sending a signal to the nation’s high schools that high school level reading is needed for college readiness,” said [University of Arkansas Professor Emerita Sandra] Stotsky. “Indeed, they seem to be suggesting that a middle school level of reading is satisfactory, even though most college textbooks and adult literary works written before 1970 require mature reading skills.”
Stotsky claims that reading development starts in elementary school and acknowledges the importance of a student’s willingness to practice reading outside the classroom.
She adds that despite societal changes over the past 100 years, both male and female students have continued to read the same type of material as past generations. Girls tend to gravitate towards books about relationships and animals, while boys enjoy adventure stories, military exploits, superheroes, and historical nonfiction.
Speaking of superheroes, yours truly was a big fan of Stan Lee-penned Marvel Comics back in the day. I recall an appearance of his on the old “Mike Douglas Show” in the early 1970s where he claimed he wrote his stories using college-level vocabulary. This report from almost three years ago confirms he did just that.
Read the full Campus Reform article.
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