University professors across the United States are reporting a measurable and accelerating collapse in students’ ability to read sustained texts. Essays that caused no difficulty for undergraduates a decade ago are now being abandoned mid-way through. Instructors describe students who struggle to complete a 20-page academic article, an assignment that would have been considered routine homework in previous generations. The trend has gone from anecdotal concern to documented data in 2026.

A widely shared essay published in The Chronicle of Higher Education titled “My Students Can’t Read” captured the attention of educators nationwide, describing “a measurable, generational collapse in sustained reading and writing” that instructors are confronting in real time.

What the Data Shows

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the nation’s report card, reported that 69 percent of US fourth graders scored below proficient in reading in 2024. Reading scores for 9-year-olds showed a significant decline in 2022 that has not reversed.

A Scholastic white paper published in March 2026 titled “Students Are Reading Less and Losing Stamina” documented that students across grade levels are reading for shorter stretches and completing fewer full books than any measured cohort in the past 30 years. The paper found that the decline in reading volume has accelerated since 2020.

At the university level, the problem is showing up in lecture halls and seminars. Literature instructor Tyler Jagt described in the Chronicle essay how not one of his students could get through an assigned 20-page article, something he had read “without complaint” as an undergraduate just a decade earlier.

The Role of AI in Accelerating the Problem

AI tools that can summarize documents in seconds have changed how students interact with assigned reading. Rather than reading a 40-page chapter, students use AI to generate a summary, then read the summary. The comprehension they develop from that process is shallower, and the neural pathways that support sustained attention are not being exercised.

According to Futurism, many students now treat AI as their primary study tool, using it to race through coursework at a speed that feels productive but produces significantly lower retention and critical thinking development than engaged reading.

The irony is circular: students who read less develop weaker comprehension, which makes reading harder, which makes AI shortcuts more appealing, which further reduces reading. The cycle compounds quickly.

The Neuroscience Behind Reading Stamina

Sustained reading is not a passive skill. It requires active neural engagement across multiple brain regions simultaneously: language processing, working memory, visualization, inference, and attention control. These neural pathways are built through use and weaken without regular exercise, the same principle that applies to any cognitive skill.

Short-form content platforms have trained users to expect information in fragments of under 60 seconds. The cognitive mode required for TikTok or Instagram Reels is fundamentally different from the sustained attention required for a 300-page book or even a 20-page essay. Regular exposure to one mode changes the ease and preference for both.

Professors describe students who are physically uncomfortable when asked to read for more than 10 minutes, describing difficulty concentrating, restlessness, and a strong compulsion to check their phone. These descriptions align with what behavioral psychologists describe as attention dysregulation caused by excessive short-form media consumption.

Reading Decline by the Numbers

Metric	Data Point	Source
4th graders below reading proficiency (US)	69%	NAEP 2024
9-year-old reading score decline since 2020	Significant drop, not recovered	NAEP 2022
Students reading full books (vs. 10 years ago)	Significantly fewer	Scholastic White Paper March 2026
Average college student reading stamina	Under 20 pages without difficulty	Chronicle of Higher Education 2026
Students using AI to summarize readings	Majority in surveyed courses	Multiple university studies

What Educators Are Trying

Some universities are responding with explicit reading stamina programs: daily short reading assignments that gradually increase in length, in-class reading time where phones are not permitted, and assignments that require students to annotate physical pages rather than summarize digital text.

Others are reconfiguring syllabi to assign shorter readings more frequently, accepting that the 200-page-per-week expectation of the 1990s university is no longer realistic for the current student population. Both approaches represent accommodations rather than solutions to the underlying trend.

Some instructors have banned AI tools for assignments, with mixed results. Students who are not permitted to use AI for summaries sometimes simply disengage from the reading entirely rather than engaging more deeply with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are college students really losing the ability to read?

Yes, according to documented data. NAEP data shows declining reading proficiency in K-12, a Scholastic white paper confirms reduced reading volume and stamina across grade levels in 2026, and university professors report a measurable shift in students’ ability to complete long-form reading assignments. The Chronicle of Higher Education published first-person accounts from instructors describing students unable to finish a 20-page article.

Why can’t students read long texts anymore?

Researchers point to several reinforcing causes: years of short-form content consumption that trains attention toward fragments; AI tools that allow students to bypass sustained reading with summaries; reduced pleasure reading across all age groups; and the atrophying of the neural pathways that support deep reading when they are not regularly used. The causes compound each other.

Is AI making the reading problem worse?

Educators and researchers broadly agree that AI summarization tools are accelerating the trend. When students can get the gist of a 40-page chapter in 30 seconds, the incentive to read it diminishes, and the neural engagement that would come from reading it does not occur. The problem predates widely available AI, but AI tools have significantly lowered the cost of bypassing reading entirely.