Faculty Member Jonathan Malesic Publishes Piece on the Reading Life of College Students in The New York Times

Jonathan Malesic’s guest essay “There’s a Very Good Reason College Students Don’t Read Anymore” was published in The New York Times on October 25, 2024. In his piece, Malesic argues that the decline in college students’ reading habits reflects a broader societal shift where success is increasingly tied to marketability and “vibes” rather than intellectual effort. Despite this, he finds hope in students who still push themselves to engage with deep learning and encourages them to resist intellectual inertia. Jonathan Malesic is an essayist and journalist with two decades’ experience teaching writing and religion at the university level; he is the author of “The End of Burnout” and his essays have appeared in New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Washington Post, Chronicle of Higher Education, America, Commonweal, Hedgehog Review, Notre Dame Magazine, and elsewhere.