Local booksellers optimistic about college reading levels, disagree with decline in college reading

Mike Howells/The Collegian

The Social Science Research Council, in a new study released last week, found that 36 percent of college students don’t show increased critical thinking skills after four years of postsecondary schooling.

Part of this trend is the decreasing number of college-aged kids who read for pleasure or for class.

While the numbers might promote the conclusion that there is less of an interest in reading among college students, local booksellers take an opposite stance.

“I wouldn’t say that college students are necessarily reading less,” Kelly Mills, who is the assistant manager at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Fresno, said. “We get quite a few college students who come in to get required reading, and we get a big spike in college students during the summer months who look for summer reading.”

The study, which tested thousands of college students at universities across the country, found that 45 percent of college students showed no increased critical thinking skills after two years of college, and 36 percent showed no improvement after four years of college.

Authorities at Borders Bookstore in River Park credit location as a factor in the amount of college students they cater to.

“We get a lot of college students in here who are looking at movies, and come in here to browse the selection we have,” Borders employee Dale Drunhardt, said. “Usually they look for things they can’t get at the Fresno State bookstore, like literature and mysteries.”

When it comes to required reading, however, some students choose to forgo reading books for class.

“I read for fun every day, but I never read for class,”Erik Williams, an English major at Fresno State said. “The text rarely interests me.”