By Michael Leppert
The Indiana Citizen
July 30, 2025
On Monday night, I sat in my recliner writing my third novel. I’m about halfway done with it, and my editor is expecting that first half by the end of the week so she can do a midpoint “assessment” of the story. She worked on my last book, and I know how she operates. The first question she will contemplate is whether or not the story is grabbing the audience quickly.
That’s on my mind this week, though I’m 40,000 words into this soon-to-be classic already.
As I was pecking away on my laptop, my wife was on the couch reading. She hadn’t made a sound in a while, and without my notorious pounding on the keys, the living room would have been silent. Until she unexpectedly burst into tears.
“I didn’t see that coming!” she announced while asking me to get her some tissues.
Bursting into tears, or laughing out loud, or even descending into an extended stretch of quiet contemplation are what people often seek when they read. It’s the joy of thinking. That’s what reading for pleasure is.
People are reading less than they once did. I write “they” because I’m reading more than I ever have. And my wife grew up a reader and it’s clear she will always be one.
The recent news of our education challenges in Indiana is telling a different story. First, Casey Smith reported for the Indiana Capital Chronicle last week, “Indiana’s college-going rate drops again, dipping to 51.7%.” This descent scares me for my home state. Not just because I am a college teacher and my craft appears to be losing popularity, but because I believe that the prosperity of all people depends on their ongoing commitment to learning. Any learning. All learning.
The culture wars instigated by Indiana’s political leaders on the state’s public and private institutions of higher education will only deepen this specific decline.
As a teacher and writer, I wonder what Hoosiers really want for themselves. Behaviorally speaking, apparently destroying “wokeness” and “owning the libs” are more important than learning. There’s no question those things are cheaper. But only in the moment. Prioritizing those repulsive behaviors will end up being wildly expensive.
Smith reported, “Indiana’s college-going rate has dropped more than any other state tracked by the National Center for Education Statistics over the past 15 years. Previously, Indiana reached a college-going rate of 65%.”
What do our leaders believe the outcome of this collapse will be five years from now? How about ten?
Second, on Monday, Caroline Beck wrote for the Indianapolis Star, “New Indiana IREAD law sparks parent concern as student retention set to rise.” A law passed last year is now having an impact on how many Indiana students will be retained in third grade if they don’t pass the state’s standardized early literacy test.
The percentage of students in the state being promoted to fourth grade after not passing the test has skyrocketed in recent years, from 4.1% in 2011 to over 16% each of the last three years. It’s not a simple problem, and the requirements of Senate Bill 1 from 2024 aren’t simple either. So, I get the “parent concern” it sparks.
But Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray described the importance of addressing it well. He said, “Kids learn to read and then read to learn, so ensuring our Hoosier students are prepared for their next level of education is absolutely critical.”
Finally, and also on Monday, Beck wrote a second story that is of particular importance to me, “Funding unclear for Indiana’s Dolly Parton Library, but signups still open statewide.”
I wrote about this in February when the $6 million appropriation that once existed in Indiana’s state budget to assist in Parton’s “Imagination Library” was zeroed out. Gov. Mike Braun committed that Indiana First Lady Maureen Braun would lead a fundraising effort to sustain the popular program. I didn’t trust the commitment then, and now that enrollment for the program is starting and there is no progress report from either Braun, I trust it even less.
In all three of these news items, there is acknowledgement of what success actually is. Of course, Indiana would be better off if more of our high school graduates went on to college. Of course, Indiana would be better off if more third graders were able to pass the state’s literacy test. And of course, the younger people learn to love books the better the outcomes of the first two things will be.
I write books because I want people to read them and think. Think a lot. Think for themselves.
Bursting into tears over them? Well, that’s just a bonus.
Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
