For
my reader interviews, I interviewed four college students. The first analysis I
would like to complete is a comparison. All four college students are juniors
with very busy schedules. In my opinion, age and time are huge factors in
determining how often a person will spend reading. Each of the students I
interviewed claimed that because there is not a lot of free time in college,
they do not often choose to read during the little free time they do have. All
four of the people I interviewed have to read for class; therefore, they find
it difficult to read for fun right after they finish reading for class.
After
looking at similarities, I analyzed the differences in each of the surveys.
Three of the students I interviewed are business majors, while one is an
education major. All three business majors indicated that most of their time
studying is spent reading, while the education major said she rarely read for
homework. It does not seem coincidental that the education major is the student
who indicated that most books owned, the most books read in the past year and
the most positive descriptions of reading. This survey would suggest that
college students with the most hands-on study material would be more likely to
read for fun while in college. The makes sense from my own experience. As an
English major, I often have so much to read for my classes that I do not
frequently read for fun during the semester.
I
also looked closely at the surveys through the lens of gender differences and
gender expectations. The surveys I conducted aligned closely to what is
stereotypically expected from a gender standpoint. The two males surveyed only
like to read nonfiction, specifically books about business, history, and sports.
The two females preferred fictional romance novels. Additionally, the females
on average spent more time on their phone and browsing social media, which is
something to be expected in terms of gender stereotypes. Overall, gender
stereotypes were present in the four students surveyed.
The
results from the surveys did not surprise me. I figured that most college-aged
students, outside of English majors, do not spend a lot of time reading. Even
as an English major, I have trouble reading for fun during the semester. I know
of several adults that spend a significant amount of time reading each day, but
it would be interesting to survey them based on their time in college. This
survey brought up several questions, but in my opinion the following is the
most important: is there not enough time to read for pleasure in the world of
college and career, or are people of today’s world simply reading less?
