The first signatory of the Ljubljana Manifesto on the importance of reading long and complex texts, such as books, is Margaret Atwood, the creator of the acclaimed The Handmaid's Tale, a novel that reveals a terrifying dystopian world precisely because of the possibility of such an existence. What would you write about a world in which humans have lost the ability to think critically and express themselves with nuance because one day they stopped reading books?
“We must understand this danger,” warned the co-author of the Ljubljana Manifesto, Michael Kovac, who was at the Politècnica de Catalunya yesterday, invited by UPCArts. In the text of the manifesto, prepared by professors and researchers, philosophers and linguists and published last October, it is warned that society faces key transformations as technology advances. This is cornering the moments that were previously dedicated to reading books.
“Reading takes time and now we don't have it, everything happens very quickly,” justifies Martina Massana, 18 years old, data engineering student. She is part of the reading elite, like Xènia Mata, 19 years old, from systems engineering and ICT in Manresa (UPC). “It is not easy to find calm. I search for a while and deactivate social networks otherwise it is impossible.”
For Kovac, long and complex texts require our attention and intellectual patience. They force us to question ourselves and see other perspectives. If we don't do it, we lose deep thinking and the ability to express ourselves. Can we acquire critical thinking with activities other than reading? the philosopher asked. The studies analyzed so far indicate no. Only the exercise of reading feeds deep thinking.
The effects of not reading are general but its impact is greater in the younger population in the process of training. In addition to little time or interest in reading, it shows (some) a deficit in reading comprehension, as PISA explained. Last December, the Royal Academy of Language warned of the decline in reading. “Many young people are not able to put together the meaning of a text, summarize its fundamental ideas, distinguish them from accessory ones. Why isn't this talked about? Not only do they not express themselves fluently or write in an agile and articulate manner, but they have many difficulties understanding the meaning, and that did not exist a few years ago,” said academic Ignacio Bosque.
“The university cannot be absent from this debate,” said Daniel Crespo, rector of the UPC. This campus is activating the cultural offer to students and teachers and promoting the entry of art and humanism into technological careers. “Reading should be present in all disciplines and be a bridge between them,” said Carme Fenoll, director of UPCArts, at yesterday's event.
Former minister Joan Subirats also advocated transdisciplinary learning because the challenges of the future are so complex that they will require mobilizing diverse knowledge. “AI will not be enough, you have to know what to ask it and that is increasingly complex.” He considered it important to read not only academic texts, but also literary ones, because of the usefulness of “coincidences.” “Reading things that you don't have to read (like novels) incorporates the possibility of finding original solutions.”
Martina Massana has promoted the first European inter-university reading club, in the heat of the European alliance in which the UPC is integrated, Unite. Fifty students from technological universities in Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Poland have read La plaça del Diamant, by Mercè Rodoreda. “On Tuesday we had the first meeting, online, and it was exciting to hear what others thought,” Xènia smiles.
For Kovac, the decline will continue if it is not stopped. But he trusts that the authorities will wake up to this issue (the manifesto is spreading like wildfire in cultural and academic entities) and start campaigns as they once did for smoking or a sedentary lifestyle and now the physical routine has been normalized.
Montse Ayats, president of the National Reading Plan, also believes it. She believes that PISA has raised a social alarm regarding not only low reading comprehension but also the decline in reading habits. She explained that there is little data about the university (she recommended opening libraries to a narrative offering) and reaffirmed that the habit is acquired at an early age, thanks to school and family. “But to be able to read you have to have read,” that is why it is, in her opinion, important to promote humanistic culture in teachers.
