College English majors can't read

Study results and higher-ed incentives

• Many comments tie weak reading to systemic incentives: colleges must graduate students for revenue and “middle class” credentialing, so rigor drops and marginal students are pushed through.
• Hiring norms reinforce this: managers often prefer any degree over none to avoid blame, even if the signal is weak. Some say, in a vacuum, they’d pick a strong high-schooler over a mediocre English BA.

Validity and design of the Dickens study

• Several see the study as stacked to produce failure: obscure 19th‑century British legal/cultural references, complex Victorian syntax, and non-elite regional schools.
• Others counter that the passage isn’t that hard, especially with phones and dictionaries allowed; the issue is not vocabulary but failure to track logic, metaphor, and figurative language.
• Critics say volunteers had no stakes or motivation, may have been stressed, and weren’t realistically going to look up every unknown term; calling them “functionally illiterate” is seen as sensationalist.

What “literacy” should mean

• One side argues the problem is inability to distinguish literal vs figurative language, detect incoherence, or understand basic metaphors—all core literacy skills, especially for English majors.
• The opposing view: not enjoying or decoding archaic “painted” prose (Dickens, Shakespeare) doesn’t equal illiteracy; many literate people prefer clear, modern prose or technical texts.

Culture, context, and major expectations

• Some note the Dickens passage relies on British institutions (Michaelmas term, chancery, Lincoln’s Inn) and 19th‑century ideas about dinosaurs and the Flood; Americans or non-natives understandably struggle.
• Others reply that English majors should be expected to grapple with canonical British literature and to use context and references, especially given access to phones.
• Analogies: asking English professors to decode contemporary rap, or asking CS students to line‑by‑line explain random kernel code—without intrinsic interest, deep comprehension is unlikely.

Broader trends and teaching

• Comments mention declining recreational reading, attention fragmented by TikTok/TV, and emoji-heavy communication eroding nuance and sarcasm detection.
• Some blame poor teaching conditions and low expectations rather than students’ innate ability; others suggest that college simply “isn’t for everyone,” but economic pressure forces mass enrollment and devalues the degree.