Have Students Become Performative?

By Joyce Woodard

When first-year Black women and men students were asked if they enjoyed reading in their free time, the majority answered neutral or disagree.

I found this surprising because when the same students were asked whether they considered themselves readers, the most selected answers were agree and neutral. I found the difference interesting because the answers almost contradict each other. I've realized that college students sometimes feel the need to exaggerate how much they read, but why is that?

I think students feel like saying they don’t enjoy reading makes them a bad student, which obviously isn’t true. These results made me wonder, how can students grow if they feel the need to be performative in academic spaces?

Related: 

• Black Readers Findings

• A Notebook of Writings by Joyce Woodard