Why read slowly?

A student recently told me about her experience taking an important test. She ran out of time before answering all of the questions and left the testing room in tears. She felt, not incorrectly, that she had failed to give herself the best possible chance to make it to the next stage of her career.

Standardized testing pressures students to decode a textual passage as quickly as possible. In my education policy courses, students often share stories about taking national college entrance exams. On reading tests, they say, you should read the questions first and then find the lines that give the correct answer. You are not supposed to read a passage in its entirety, much less enjoy it or think about it. You have to answer the question correctly and then move on to the next question. Mastering this skill can make the difference between going to one’s first choice school or not.

Maryanne Wolf (2018) argues that skim reading leads to a “subtle atrophy of critical analysis and empathy.” In response, Maria Ferguson (2018) defends the new trend, exemplified by the Common Core education standards, of teaching students to dissect texts for information. The “need to quickly sift information,” she explains, is “highly prized in a society and economy obsessed with data and information.” So how important is it to teach children to read slowly when schools, testing, and the economy require students to read quickly?