Why most people do not take speed reading courses?
Speed reading has numerous benefits. If you are able to read faster then you can work faster and be more productive. You can finish your job tasks within a shorter period of time, which means that you can work more to earn more or you may choose to have more free time. In addition speed reading skills will allow you to read more for educating yourself. If you are planning to get MA degree then being able to speed read will make your life much easier.
There are many different speed reading courses and all of them have basically the same benefits. I do not know what is the share of population, who have learned speed reading but it is likely to be a relatively low proportion. It is definitely not 50%, 30% and probably not even 10%. In case of Estonia, where I live, this number is below 1%.It may be higher for some other countries, where there are more speed reading training trainers and where the traditions of speed reading are longer.
But when speed reading has so many benefits, why most people do not learn speed reading.
The first reason, which may not be the most important one, is that not all people are aware of the benefits of speed reading. There are still some people who have hardly heard something about speed reading. Probably this reason has greater importance in my countries as there were no speed reading courses in Estonia during the Soviet period. It became possible to learn speed reading here only in the mid 1990s.
Second, there are people who know what speed reading is and which are its benefits, but who are doubtful about them. Many people think that these benefits are some kind of advertisement trick and actually speed reading is no use. If you look around in internet forums, then you can find a lot discussion on the question: “Does speed reading actually work?”. It is true that not all the participants of speed reading courses could apply what they have learned to their everyday life. As it takes time and effort to develop your reading skills then many people give up in the middle of the learning process and find that speed reading does not work. Many people participate in one- or two-day speed reading classes, which require the trainees to continue practicing individually after completion of the course, but these people will not practice and that is the reason that they will not benefit from these courses.
Third, there are people, who do not think that the ability to read faster will make there life much easier. A popular argument against speed reading is “I do not want to read faster”. Some people find that it is essential to be slow and careful while reading. Or they may have a job, where it is very important not to make any mistakes. But there are not so many benefits of reading slowly and carefully. It is difficult to improve your reading comprehension significantly by reading extra slowly. And even if your work process does not require fast reading, you may still benefit from speed reading for leading for hobbies and leisure. Wouldn’t it be nice f you could finish your newspapers in the morning in half of the usual time.
Fourth, some people think that they are not able to learn to speed read. Many of them are natural slow readers, who think that their reading abilities are so bad that there is no point in even trying out the speed reading. This is absolutely wrong as naturally slow readers, who have usually very inefficient reading techniques are the ones who benefit most from speed reading courses. If you are very slow then there is more room for improvement for a naturally fast reader. Some people think that they are too old for speed reading. Well, some participants of my speed reading classes have been more than 70 years old and they have managed to increase their reading speed.
Fifth, there are people who are satisfied with their reading speed although they can be relatively slow readers. We learn to read at early ages and it may seem strange for a grown up and educated man or woman. For example, when I was visiting IZA (Institute for Labor Market Research) in Bonn, Germany a year ago and I talked about speed reading there, I was asked if I had a problem with reading. It is sad to see that many people will not be able to enjoy the benefits of speed reading because they have that kind of attitude towards speed reading.
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My name is Kristjan-Olari Leping. I am a speed reading trainer. I have an associated professor position at the University of Tartu, am a policy analyst in a policy research center, I am a trainer and I am involved in many other business projects. 