Are we getting stupider? David Brooks writes in the New York Times that stupidity has come to define our politics. Even intelligent people can also be stupid, he argues. They can come to believe in conspiracist theories and make decisions against their own interests.

He quotes dissident German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was murdered by the Nazis: “When you create an organization in which one man has all the power and everybody else has to flatter his preconceptions, then stupidity will surely result.”

Can we link the rise of stupidity in politics to the decline in reading? Recent studies have shown that young people have lost ground in reading ability. The Wall Street Journal reports that these skills have been in a “yearslong slide.” The results of a federal exam show that “67% of eighth-graders who scored at a basic or better reading level in 2024 was the lowest share since testing began in 1992.” Only 60% of fourth-graders made that score, a result near record lows.

Blame the pandemic, which kept many kids out of classrooms. Blame the universality of electronic devices, which divert attention, shorten attention spans and disrupt family gatherings. Whatever the reason, the results are convincing.

By contrast, industry statistics show that the children’s book market is growing and expected to grow more. People are evidently buying books for their kids. One in four books sold in the U.S. in 2023 were children’s books. On the other hand, 15% of those were graphic novels. Not too many words on the page. And the numbers of kids who read books declines statistically as they get older. So maybe the young kids are reading but their older siblings and parents are not?

One recent anecdote suggests that reading is not a priority or even a familiar activity for many adults.

For several years, I have been a member of a book group devoted to reading the novels of Dickens. We meet via Zoom once a week for an hour in the evening. It is a varied, smart and entertaining group, launched by our son in Oregon and including members of many generations occupations and opinions from all over the country. The West Coasters are finishing dinner and those of us in the East are staving off bedtime. One of our number sometimes checks in from London, where she visits family.

We read a prescribed amount of the book at hand, usually about 50 pages or more, then find out what everyone has to say about that chunk. The most recent book has been “The Pickwick Papers.” Like most Dickens novels, it is a large book, over 700 pages. When one of our group members was traveling recently, she packed the book in her carry-on so that she could read it on the plane.

At the security check, she was pulled aside and asked to open her bag. The officer took out the book, evidently the suspicious item, and turned every page. What was this strange object with the little black marks all over its leaves? After a thorough examination, the book was returned and she was able to board her plane.

Who knows what the security officer thought or was looking for. As we all know, books can be dangerous (see the number being banned), but it’s not the sort of danger that brings down planes. Still, perhaps from now on, along with shoes and bottles of shampoo, we will have to remove any books we’re carrying for close inspection before we’re allowed on a plane?

Marietta Pritchard lives in Amherst. She can be reached at mppritchard@comcast.net.