<p>^^^^^</p>
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<p>You’d be surprised . . . I work in an Honors Program at a highly ranked public university. For a number of years we asked that question on our application. We dropped it because it was clear the vast majority of the kids were talking about a book that had been assigned in school (how many kids really read War and Peace for fun?) OR they talked about Harry Potter. And the way they talked about books was akin to a 7th grade book report. Turned out to be a useless question.</p>
<p>Since I became a professor 20 years ago, it’s been increasingly clear students don’t read for pleasure. It shows up in their reading comprehension, their critical thinking abilities, their knowledge base, and most of all in their writing. I do not know many of the rules of grammar (I tuned all that out in high school) but I write well because I read a lot as a child so I know if something “sounds” right or not. Many of today’s students don’t have that “ear” for writing.</p>