Introduction

Greetings from TobiraAI, a local educator passionate about the future of learning. Thank you for always reading my posts. Please make yourself comfortable.

Today’s goal is simple yet profound: let’s increase the environments where children encounter printed words. In an era dominated by smartphones and AI, nurturing reading habits is not optional—it is essential.

Table of Contents

The Connection Between Reading and AI The 2024 National Academic Test in Japan Let Children Read Quality Texts The Fear of the Echo Chamber What Parents of Top Readers Actually Do Increase the Number of Books at Home Buy Used Books in Bulk The Greatest Enemy: The Smartphone

The Connection Between Reading and AI

We must not forget the link between language ability and AI. Generative AI produces text at incredible speed, but it is prone to “hallucinations.” Our task is to extract key points, check for errors, and decide what can be trusted. This requires strong reading comprehension. Training this ability is now a survival skill in the AI era.

The 2024 National Academic Test

The Japanese Ministry of Education has revised language tests to focus on selecting and synthesizing information from multiple sources. The results revealed challenges: for middle school students, the average correct answer rate on open-ended writing questions was only 25.6%.

The Ministry recommends teaching students to circle, highlight, and visually connect terms across multiple documents—a method reminiscent of tutoring schools. But isn’t that what true reading comprehension was always about?

Let Children Read Quality Texts

Personally, I believe traditional reading comprehension of novels and essays is still the foundation. Careful reading is vital, even for adults who must analyze documents in the workplace. Without this foundation, students cannot handle the newer, more complex test formats.

A recent report showed that over 40% of Japanese middle schoolers do not read books at all. That is a cause for concern.

The Fear of the Echo Chamber

An echo chamber is an environment where only your own views are repeated back to you. Social media algorithms feed us what we “like,” narrowing our perspective. The less we encounter diverse ideas, the more we risk believing our view is the majority. Reading a wide range of literature is a natural antidote to this.

What Parents of Top Readers Actually Do

Years ago, I asked two mothers of children with Japanese language scores in the top percentile: “What’s your secret?” Their answer surprised me:

“We simply borrowed piles of books from the library and left them at home.”

They never told their children to read. They just placed books in the living room and replaced them when the due date came. Reading was left entirely to the child’s choice. This freedom created genuine curiosity.

Increase the Number of Books at Home

A 2021 study revealed a clear correlation: the more books in a household, the higher the test scores. This reflects both intellectual environment and economic background.

Books lying around can spark curiosity. A colleague once told me she grew up reading The Battle of Leyte Gulf by Shohei Ooka—not a typical choice for a young girl. When I asked why, she said, “Because it was just there at home.” That accidental exposure shaped her worldview.

Buy Used Books in Bulk

Books don’t have to be expensive. Secondhand stores like Book-Off sell classics for as little as 100 yen (sometimes even 1 yen online). Don’t worry about genre or fame—just create an abundant library at home. Aim for 500 volumes! And please, keep a printed newspaper at home until at least high school. Newspapers provide balanced exposure that digital feeds rarely do.

The Greatest Enemy: The Smartphone

Finally, we must address the smartphone. The U.S. Surgeon General recommends avoiding social media until at least age 16, as it hijacks attention and impacts brain development. Adolescents’ prefrontal cortex—the part that controls impulses—is not fully mature. If even adults touch their phones over 85 times a day, what about children?

I hope parents will be strict about smartphone use. Performance drops rapidly when students become addicted. Even a simple idea like a “phone lockbox” can help the entire family create shared reading time.

Conclusion

In the end, our goal is to make children think: “Books are fun.” Do not force it. Even if they ignore the books you’ve prepared, don’t be discouraged. A culture of reading at home is the greatest gift we can give in the age of AI.

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