The 2025 National Report Card shows continued declines in reading for students in the United States, with average reading scores decreasing by two points for fourth and eighth grade compared to 2022. This worsens the three-point decline seen in these grades in 2022 when compared to 2019.
This concerning trend is also reflected in adults in the U.S. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the number of adults performing at the lowest literacy level increased from 17% in 2017 to 28% in 2023. This means that on a literary proficiency test, they scored between zero and 175 points out of 500.
While this is a multifaceted issue, the quantity of U.S. citizens performing at sub-par literacy levels — and the fact that this is trending in a negative direction — illustrates a problem in U.S. messaging and academic values as a society.
There is a prevailing view that STEM majors are more viable choices for students entering college because they offer perceived superior career opportunities and more financial stability, according to an article from Forbes. This belief shapes students’ choices in high school and beyond and their perceptions of what is important.
While future financial prospects are an important consideration and job opportunities for STEM majors tend to be higher paying, the declining literacy rates across all age groups illustrate that humanities majors still have relevance and should not be discounted because they build fundamental skills many people in the U.S. appear to be lacking.
There is a wide range of humanities majors, such as history, literature, languages, and philosophy. These subjects can first develop enhanced critical thinking and media literacy skills through extensive reading of different types of literature, like novels, philosophical essays, historical documents, and more. The ability to critically analyze an excerpt of text to determine the central message and importance is a crucial skill that these tests indicate many are lacking.
Critical thinking is required across all academic disciplines, not just the humanities, and in daily life as well. This enhances human ability to react to situations and problem solve. Particularly in this current digital age, the amount of misinformation that spreads rapidly and is easily accessible indicates the importance of being able to critically analyze the media one receives. According to the Pew Research Center, at least 54% of U.S. adults get some form of news from social media, despite the high potential that this information contains factual inaccuracies. Thus, being able to determine the credibility of information sources one receives is quite important, and humanities majors prepare people for this.
