Do you feel there's an educational issue with your younglings?
Posted by Small-Usual3169@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 27 comments
A couple of friends have been working as teachers in Kansas city for 4 years now and have manifested an important amount of worry for the educational level of children rapidly falling to total illiteracy. They actually told that most of 7-8-9 graders couldn't read or analyse any kind of text beyond a 3 sentence period.
I am curious, do you feel like this is something that's happening?
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madcatzplayer5@reddit
They’re gonna be great schmucks, that’s for certain. Start getting your crystal businesses going now because we’re about to have a whole load more of dumbasses out there over the age of 18 with plenty of spending money, because they’ll all somehow get a job somewhere and do a terrible job there.
Small-Usual3169@reddit (OP)
Actually I'm a psychologist, sadly I have no shiny objects to sell. :(
Hoosier_Jedi@reddit
Analyse yourself and ask yourself why you use time out of your day being a dick on the internet.
madcatzplayer5@reddit
Damn, if you see patients at all at this age, just give them something shiny with your name and phone number on it. They’ll tell all their like-minded friends and your schedule will be filled. All for them to get the shiny object with your name and number on it at the end of the appt.
Commercial-Land-6806@reddit
Yeah sadly it's becoming more and more common seeing 17-19 year olds looking for work at both my last and current workplaces with minimal amounts of actual education. Like legitimately young adults who can barely read or do basic math.
Unfortunately with how things are set up there is rarely kids held back and none are properly tested. With funding often wrapped around graduation rates so many are just funneled through to the end.
I noticed the trends myself even pre-covid when I was originally going through school to be an educator myself and realized I was not patient enough for the new age of kids nor the system that was built for them.
The_Awful-Truth@reddit
I've been hearing this for years, and it's apparently rapidly getting worse. A high school teacher summed it up quite well, in a comment on a different sub a few days ago:
In secondary (high) school, I'm now seeing students who have grown up with screens and endless scrolling. Issues are:
- extremely low attention spans
- no conflict resolution skills (they can just block online!)
- little imagination - they've never had to entertain themselves
- learned helplessness, from being given screens when they're upset/struggling
- poor literacy - text speak, lack of reading
- difficulty socialising in-person
- inability to process information. It's presented to them, they write it down, but it doesn't actually go in
Even the students who left just 2/3 years ago, are markedly different from the ones I'm seeing now
People of all ages, but children in particular, living their lives through their phones is causing huge problems in society. It's going to be reflected in major issues with socialization and work within a few years if it isn't already, and in birthrates a few years after that. We're going to have to do a top to bottom reinvention of both education and parenting, and there doesn't seem to be any urgent movement in that direction.
Small-Usual3169@reddit (OP)
Thanks, so is it this common that a kid has free access to a cellphone or tablet from such a young age?
Aggressive_tako@reddit
I feel like the answer to this is going to be different based on age and socioeconomic status. There is so much focus now on screentime limits for small kids that I think it is reversing some and wealthier more educated parents have always limited access more than lower income parents. However, a lot of parents across the board defaulted to unlimited screentime during covid since it seemed safer in an immediate sense.
Professional_Food_61@reddit
It’s very common for parents to just throw their kid in front of an ipad with free access to the internet whenever they need to be entertained…
jackfaire@reddit
How many are letting kids read something that interests them and they want to know about? And how many are forcing strict adherence to a specific set of books that are hit or miss?
Silently-Snarking@reddit
Great! now have your friend go teach in Massachusetts and report back
Baebarri@reddit
Current 7th graders were probably in second grade during the 2020 pandemic. That would have been a crucial time in their reading skills development, and with most schools going online for months, it's very likely they missed out on quality instruction.
The older kids would have still been working on complex reading skills so they fell behind as well.
Small-Usual3169@reddit (OP)
Of course the pandemic played a huge role on messing up education all around the world.
randypupjake@reddit
Although the pandemic didn't cause it, the pandemic sure did exacerbate it lots.
Beautiful-Parsley-24@reddit
No, not for the upper-middle class. I'll pass down my knowledge of differential equations and information geometry to my nephews. Even if their middle school teacher says they're delayed, a professor-uncle can correct it.
Mouse-Direct@reddit
I’m from Oklahoma, the state that’s ranked 50th in education in the US. We were ranked higher in 2013 when my son started school, but I live in Oklahoma City, not in a suburb, and inner city schools tend to be lower funded. We sent our son to private school (we only have one so it wasn’t financially onerous) and he thrived. He was in 5th/6th grade during the shutdown, but due to how small the school/classes were, he only spent March-August 2000 in online classes. He’s graduating with honors this year and has a scholarship covering 75% of his tuition/board.
He was born in 2008, and did not have an iPad. I didn’t give him my phone to play with, and he didn’t have a phone of his own until he was 13. I also read to and with him and his parents are both teachers. He got a great start in life.
But yes, I see children under 2 handed phones and tablets all the time. Parents don’t like to deal with fussy or crying children anymore.
FunTricky903@reddit
I know better than to assume a shitamericanssay user is here in good faith.
Small-Usual3169@reddit (OP)
Just curious about an issue some Americans friends reported. Since I'm academically and professionally interested in cultural differences an social phenomena i wanted to hear the opinions based on the perception US citizens have of the issue. I'm in good faith, this time.
Also yes I'm from Europe (the country) and In my search for iced water I stumbled in this sub.
i0ncl0ud9_2021@reddit
I suggest you interview Samuel Paty. He could tell you a lot about the state of European education compared to the US.
Small-Usual3169@reddit (OP)
Thanks I'm gonna check this out. I'm not trying to race about who as the best education program and even if I wanted to my country (Italy)wouldn't have won. I'm more interested in the perceived efficiency of the educational system and perceived cognitive skills of children.
Lightningtow123@reddit
Go browse r/teachers and decide for yourself
HorseFeathersFur@reddit
I was so worried about an entire generation of kids being forced to stay home from school for 1-2 years, especially the kids who had no support network, or lived with abusive People, or lacked resources. And the people who raised concerns were shunned.
No_Report_4781@reddit
A Brit teaching in Kansas. Interesting
Small-Usual3169@reddit (OP)
They're not Brits. He's from Kentucky and she's from Maryland. They always refer to their relationship "as wrong as this sounds we're married"
theanongoose@reddit
my cousins are 6 and 11 and genuinely i have never interacted with stupider children. like im talking she was age 8 struggling to read and cant do math at all. all they do is scroll youtube shorts all day. as a gen-z i know a lot of it is honestly poor teaching we dont teach phonetics and i feel like all the teachers are 20 year old girls who didnt pass liberal arts math. i know the other part of the issue is gen y parents not doing a damn thing to moderate their kid’s screen time. their brains are mush before they even had a chance to develop them.
Hopeful_Pizza_2762@reddit
They need to learn young. Our state has preschool.