Something alarming is happening with reading in America. Leisure reading by some accounts has declined by about 50 percent this century. Literacy scores are declining for fourth and eighth graders at alarming rates. And even college students today are complaining to teachers that they can’t read entire books. The book itself, that ancient piece of technology ... Show More
Sep 15
Why Experts Keep Getting the Economy So Wrong
Expert economists keep making predictions about America’s financial future, and those predictions keep being … wrong. Over the past few years, we’ve heard warnings about a recession, inflation, tariffs, wars, deficits, and an AI bubble, yet the economy continues chugging along. T ... Show More
58m 51s
Sep 11
What’s the Point of College?
Trust in American higher education is near a historic low. Tuition has soared, and the payoff for a college degree is now in question as graduates face a weird and challenging job market. Simultaneously, AI is transforming everything around them, from academic fraud to job applic ... Show More
56m 50s
Sep 8
The New Book That Scares Big Tech
In the late 19th century, a railroad boom fueled by easy money, speculative investment, and new technology helped kick off one of the worst financial crises in American history. Sound kind of familiar? In today’s episode, Derek talks with author Liaquat Ahamed about his new book, ... Show More
59m 1s
Nov 2024
The kids aren't reading all right
College students in 2024 are less willing and able to read full books. Today, Explained asks whether that matters.
This episode was produced by Peter Balonon-Rosen, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Andrea Kristinsdottir and Patrick Boyd, and h ... Show More
25m 26s
Dec 2024
The Books We Read in High School (Part 1)
Recently, professors at elite colleges told Atlantic writer Rose Horowitch that their students don’t read whole books anymore. They blamed cell phones, standardized tests, and extracurriculars, and they mostly agreed that the shift began in high school. In this episode of Radio A ... Show More
25m 27s
Aug 2023
what we lost when we stopped reading
We all know about our declining attention spans due to social media. That’s nothing new. However, we’re beginning to see the profound impact of digital technology on something called “deep reading”, critical thinking, and societal discourse at large. Together, we’ll delve into an ... Show More
55m 5s
Jun 2023
The Today, Explained Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good
For decades, American schools have taught reading with an approach that doesn’t work very well. Emily Hanford of the podcast “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” explains how things are starting to change.
This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Mat ... Show More
26m 6s
May 2023
8: The Impact
Across the country, school districts are dropping textbooks, state legislatures are going so far as to ban teaching methods, and everyone, it seems, is talking about "the science of reading." Things have been changing since Sold a Story was released. In this episode, we tell you ... Show More
24m 33s