Why reading books is so important to cultivate our children's intelligence

Subjected to the addictive yoke of the omnipresent recreational screens (movies, television series, video games, social networks…), our children read less and less and, therefore, worse and worse, because, as dozens of studies show, the ability reading depends directly on the practice time. In Spain, according to the latest international Pisa assessments, 75% of 13-year-old secondary school students do not pass the “basic” level, which at most allows them to understand simple and explicit statements; 51% even have a “low” level and difficulties with the most basic texts. Only 5% of readers are “advanced”, capable of identifying and summarizing the ideas implicit in a non-trivial text. These figures are comparable to the OECD average. Since 2015, Spanish secondary school students have lost a year of learning. This means that 13-year-olds in 2022 were at the same level as their 12-year-old counterparts seven years earlier.

Many observers seem satisfied with this evolution, arguing that we must move with the times and that today's children simply learn “in another way.” While in times past the written word was used, in the modern world audiovisual media are used. Unfortunately, this argument ignores the specific characteristics of the written word. First of all, there is the language. The book is devoid of context. It only has words as support. The image (or video) of a landscape, an object, an emotion, a scene from life, etc., speaks for itself, so to speak, at least in part. The book has to describe everything. This explains why, on average, the lexical and grammatical complexity of textual corpora is much greater than that of oral corpora. Extensive content studies have shown that there is more linguistic richness in a preschool album (the simplest of books) than in all ordinary oral corpora: discussions between educated adults or adults and children, films, series, cartoons, television programs. television… This means that exposure to the written word is the only way to develop advanced language, without which no complex thought can be constructed.

I often hear it said that the younger generations have never read as much, thanks to the internet. Unfortunately, the claim is misleading. Among young people aged 8 to 18, digital reading represents between 2% and 3% of screen time, while audiovisual activities (movies, series, videos, etc.) represent between 40% and 50%. Furthermore, this reading time includes very few books and much linguistically and conceptually poor content. Ultimately, internet reading time (social media, blogs, emails, and everything else) and, more generally, total recreational screen time are negatively correlated with children's language skills and reading ability. The same goes for knowledge. The more children and adolescents read, the broader their general culture is, in relation to children from comparable socioeconomic backgrounds who are exposed to audiovisual content (movies, series, among others). Children who read are much more likely to know, for example, what a carburetor or an interest rate is; to say that Japan was an ally of Germany and not the United States during World War II, and to affirm that there are more Muslims than Jews on the planet.

In Spain the difference in skills between the most advantaged 25% and the least advantaged 25% in secondary school is four years of learning

In addition to these cultural and linguistic repercussions, there are documented benefits in terms of IQ, concentration, imagination, creativity, capacity for synthesis and expression (both oral and written). In other words, while recreational screens thoroughly undermine our children's development, reading meticulously builds their intelligence. But that is not all. Reading novels also strongly structures our emotional and social skills. If I watch Don Quixote on television, I don't have access to the complexity of his thoughts. Instead, when I read the novel, I literally get into the character's head and can understand the inner workings of his thoughts and actions. Better yet, I get to experience the latter. Researchers refer to reading as an authentic “emotional simulator,” in the sense that situations actually experienced and those experienced literary activate the same brain circuits. When I look up the meaning of the word betrayal in a dictionary, I intellectually understand what it means; but when I read Madame Bovary, I not only understand it, but I experience betrayal from the point of view of both the betrayer and the betrayed. I penetrate the underlying mechanisms and feel the associated emotional states. In the end, fiction readers have greater empathy and ability to understand others and themselves.

Ultimately, all of these benefits greatly influence children's educational and career paths. The impact is significant both on an individual and collective level. Numerous studies show that the economic development of a country, the number of patents developed and its GDP are closely related to educational results. This is a crucial issue in a context of growing international competition, especially if we take into account, in view of the Pisa assessments already mentioned, that performance differences, not only in reading, but also in mathematics, are increasing. between OECD nations and Asian countries.

I often hear that younger people have never read so much thanks to the internet. Unfortunately, digital reading is 3% of your screen time

Of course, we can live without reading. That is not the question. The important thing is that we then lose an essential part of our humanity. It is no coincidence that books have been the target of tyrants of all kinds since the beginning of time. The Nazis burned more than 100 million books and, as philologist Victor Klemperer has shown, they embarked on a process of language impoverishment worthy of Orwell's Newspeak in 1984. Hitler said that literature was poison for the people. In A happy world, by Huxley, only a small caste still possesses the tools of thought and language. The rest is made up of zealous technicians, formatted to adapt with the greatest precision to economic needs, stuffed with absurd entertainment, deprived of the fundamental tools of intelligence and happy with a servitude that they are no longer even able to perceive. Reading is the surest antidote to this nightmare because, through its effect on the intellectual, emotional and social development of our children, it outlines the surest path to emancipation. As Ray Bradbury, author of the futuristic novel Fahrenheit 451, said: “You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. “It is enough to get people to stop reading them.”

Faced with this incipient disaster, many blame the school. However, the family environment plays an essential role in this, especially through shared reading, which is the only way for children to progressively acquire the advanced language of the written word and, ultimately, once the skills are acquired bases of decoding, read for yourself. This does not mean that the school is ineffective. What it means is that the available school time and the number of children per teacher do not allow for optimal work. All studies show that, when it comes to language and reading, schools fail to compensate for social inequalities. In Spain, according to data from Pisa, the difference in skills between the most advantaged and the least advantaged quarter of secondary school students represents four years of learning. It's a huge difference.
The problem can only be solved through focused, early and massive action aimed at the least advantaged children. We also need a comprehensive information program for parents, especially the disadvantaged. When we explain to the latter the importance of talking to their children, of reading them stories from a very young age, of taking them to the library, the effects on language, cognitive development, concentration or family bond are considerable. It's all a matter of political will. The costs incurred would be largely offset by the subsequent savings (speech therapy, school failure, etc.).

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