So we read in this piece in today’s IHE, where our Beach Books reports for 2010 and 2011 were the topic of conversation, often sympathetic. If you haven’t yet seen these two studies, take a look here and here.
In brief, both reports survey the Common Readings which entering freshman have been asked to read over the summer, in preparation for their first semester college. With few exceptions, it’s been pretty thin stuff: overwhelmingly contemporary, intellectually vapid and heavily freighted with politically correct thematic material. It’s encouraging to read that so many at the MLA gathering apparently think that something’s wrong as well.
Kudos to NAS Communications Director Ashley Thorne, whose Herculean research labors made both studies possible.
