I often open the newspaper and wonder why I never see words more than eight or nine letters. Sentences longer than 15 words? Out of the question. It seems like I’m back in middle school – reading at a sixth-grade level.So, why do the media write at a lower level? Do they really think we have the mind capacity of an adolescent? Oops, I can’t use that word; it’s 10 letters.

Mindy Mizell, a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., believes that since most people talk and listen at a sixth-grade level, writing at a higher level would come across as fake and removed. But John Miller, a journalism professor at TCU, says the media don’t write at a sixth grade level – they write to their audiences.

Perhaps another reason the media write at a lower level is so people can understand it more easily – but essentially, the reason is so that readers and viewers don’t have to think or work in order to get their news. I personally don’t mind a little work here and there; it keeps a person’s mind from atrophying. (Get out that dusty old dictionary and look up that word instead of my spoon-feeding you the meaning.) But is the newspaper meant to be mental bubble gum, or the 10 o’clock news a lullaby? I can see that being the purpose of a television sitcom. You’re supposed to sit and relax when watching those shows, not decipher convoluted sentences.

If the media wrote at a higher level, I believe readers and viewers would become more acquainted with the multifarious words. However, John Tisdale, a journalism professor at TCU, says the media would likely lose readership and viewership if they wrote at higher levels.

I remember that when I was in elementary school, my mom made me read “classic” books so I would become a prodigious writer. Whenever I didn’t know what something meant, she made me look it up in the dictionary. I learned more by reading at a higher level.

Maybe if the media adopted my mother’s worldview and forced their readers and viewers to associate with obfuscating words, then reading the paper or watching the news would become a complete learning experience. The general public would be both updating themselves on current events and familiarizing themselves with a few more words in the American lexicon.

I think the media should raise the bar in their writing. We’re not dumb, and I don’t think the media should treat us like we are. I think that with a little practice and a slight boost from the media, we could become quite dexterous at understanding word usage.

Christina Durano is a freshman broadcast journalism major from Albuquerque, N.M.