We are living in strange times. Wars are taking place in various parts of the world, rebellions flare up and depose world leaders, but one phenomenon that may be even more far-reaching revolves around literacy. We may well have hit the high-water mark of literacy and we now find ourselves on the downward slope, heading into a less and less literate age. Books have been replaced by smartphones as the gateways to information and reading, but reading on a phone rates as the 14th most frequent thing people do on their phones, following texting, listening to social media, making calls, and playing games. Considering that reading is our main way of understanding our spiritual heritage and our Lord’s will, I find this move toward decreased literacy discouraging.
The SAT and ACT scores for 2023 were some of the worst on record, with college-bound students less prepared for college than ever before. A very large percentage of them do not have college-level math, reading, or writing skills, and many of them are not prepared for college in any of those three areas. According to a Pew Research survey, 25% of American adults haven’t read a book in the last year. These results are triple what they were in 1978. Something has gone seriously wrong.
At Southwestern Adventist University (SWAU) we are taking on the problem of literacy with the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), a ten-year drive to improve student reading performance. Every school accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) must create a QEP when approaching an accreditation visit. SWAU will face reaffirmation in accreditation next year, but we are already busy preparing. 
The QEP in reading, called Knight Readers, focuses on three goals: improving students’ reading ability, lowering students’ reading anxiety, and building up a culture of reading on the SWAU campus. To achieve these goals we are working with all classroom instructors, who will teach some reading techniques along with their course content. We are also promoting books clubs on campus with a wide range of topics, from great classics to the Spirit of Prophecy. We want to teach students that, as Cicero said, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.”