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Harrison Lee
Ms. Hart
AP English Language and Composition
12/6/14
In Too Dumb for Complex Texts?, Mark Bauerfein calls attention to the
unpreparedness of college-bound students after graduating from high school. He advocates
students inability to comprehend complex tests explain the thirty percent college drop-out
rate for the approximately three million high school graduates in 2008. The influence of
social media, instant messaging, and the grown habit of superficial reading has impeded
students from dedicating the sufficient amount of time required to analyze and absorb deep
meanings of texts; as a result, this prevents them from performing proficiently in
demanding college-level courses. Bauerfein is correct to assert that many graduating high
school students lack the necessary reading abilities and strategies to live up to the academic
rigor of college. Their incapability to handle higher level reading, according to Bauerfein, is
attributed to the faulty treatment and attitude towards it.
Bauerfein advocates that college-bound students do not have enough expertise in
properly digesting a complex text. He states, Does the gap widen because students dont
have the intelligence or background knowledge to understand complex texts? To some
extent perhaps, but ACT suggests that the difficulty lies just as much in students lack of
experience and practice with reading complex texts. (Bauerfein 1). This hypophora
suggests that students are not always incapable of comprehending a complicated piece of
literature, but rather they are unable to recognize such a text and know how to analyze it.
Following this claim, Bauerfein continues to state that The more students are exposed to
complex tests, the more they realize that they cant complete their studies through a single
superficial reading (Bauerfein 1). This reveals Bauerfeins belief that many unprepared

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college freshmen are unable to understand complex texts because of their mistreatment of
the reading. Instead of giving a passage a focused, deep analysis, students tend to read
superficially. The issue is addressed here, and the reader realizes that the exigence of the
section is the need for students treat the texts, differently, reading more slowly and more in
depth.
Bauerfein continues to argue that the lacking ability for college freshmen to
understand complex tests is not completely due to their intelligence, but due to their overall
attitude and treatment to the reading. He states, The interruption doesnt just slow them
down. It hinders their imagination, clouding their comprehension of the novel. In other
words, complex texts require single-tasking, an unbroken and unbothered focus.
(Bauerfein 2). Most students not only read in a superficial manner, but also read with
distractions constantly around. Bauerfein affiliates some of these distractions to the digital
age, in which most youths are so accustomed to steady stimuli that they are incapable or
unwilling to ponder one particular subject for an extended period of time. He goes on to
support his claim by stating that the modern age encourages multitasking, which is what
should not be done when analyzing a complex text. Bauerfein points that those who stay
away from social media, the media, or the electronic world tend to feel insecure than thus,
would not be able to distance themselves from such attractions for long. As a result, they
would not be able to dedicate the uninterrupted session required to fully comprehend the
complex texts assigned in college.
There are a number of other reasons why students may drop out of college, however.
After all, there are many circumstances in which college freshmen drop out of college due
to inability to balance the rigorous studies with their newfound independence. In fact,
failure of a college freshman to handle high-level coursework could be attributed to many

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factors including social and family issues to financial stress. In addition, the school in which
a student began attending may simply have presented too competitive of an environment
for him or her to handle. There is also no strict reading habit to ensure the success of
understanding complex texts. From personal observation, the habits and general
preferences of effective reading vary from person to person. While there is no exact cause
or solution to the failure of academic preparedness, Bauerfein knows of the predominant
problems that every student would face in the twenty-first century.
Ultimately, the failure of the vast majority of modern-generation college-bound
students to academically succeed in college is not due to their lacking intelligence. Instead,
Mark Bauerfein associates this dilemma to the inability to handle a complex text, caused by
the habit to read shallowly, and the age of electronics. To make such a bold statement
linking literary incompetence to college unpreparedness may seem hasty to some. There
may be a risk posed if the education system fully accepted all of Bauerfeins assertions.
However, the statement that ones attitude carries through everything he or she does stays
true, and Bauerfeins explanations are most logical for that reason. A person who is
habituated to reading over a hundred text messages a day, for example, could not expect
him or herself to effectively and efficiently engage in a masterful piece of literature.
Therefore, the high dropout rate in college freshmen in the United States would continue to
rise if high schools do not properly train students to read and closely analyze complex texts.
Works Cited
"Membership." Educational Leadership:Teaching Screenagers:Too Dumb for Complex
Texts? 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 8 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb11/vol68/num05/TooDumb-for-Complex-Texts.aspx>.