Books

We're moving closer and closer to feudalism, and what's feudalism without illiterate serfs with no rights?

My kid is still in middle school, but in elementary, they had a focus on "Sight Words" not phonics. I remember vividly, learning phonics as a kid in school. I had to teach my own child phonics, because the school seemed to think sight words would be enough, they're not

It looks like they can read, they're just not understanding what the concepts are. I think it's like having face blindness or ADHD, you try to work around it, with some being more successful at it than others.

It’s worth pausing here to point out that you can’t really blame younger people for struggling at what were once seen as academic basics. The school system is in shambles, their education was bisected by the COVID pandemic, and they’re been reared in a world that’s increasingly deemphasized reading in favor of videos, voiceovers, and other emerging forms of communication.

Everyone in the education system, at every level, is incentivized to inflate grades and pass more students.

When I was in university too many kids started failing the intro classes so they had to add additional mandatory intro classes that used to be covered at high school.

Government don't want to pay teachers, teachers don't want to get called out for failing kids who were under-equipped for their class, so they pass them, then the next year teacher has to do the same, or they look bad. The government adds standardized tests, which become the target, because that what will make the schools look bad. Then the colleges/universities want higher enrolment for more money. They don't care what happens after kids graduate.

I think the answer is standardized testing needs to become more holistic, universities need to do entrance testing instead of relying on standardized tests, teachers need to get funded so they can teach kids instead of spending all their time dealing with a few problem students, and we need to let kids fail and re-introduce "streaming" teaching where smart kids can get into classes with smart kids, and unmotivated kids can get put into classes that refocus their learning and fix their fundamentals.

as long as the college gets their money...

If it was anything like me 20ish years ago, the check cleared...

If you need an actual example story on how something like this can happen.

you know the old stuff where teachers are like, you need to do math manually, youll never always have a calculator in your pocket (of course in retrospect its almost the opposite given smartphones). this particular case was TOO accommodating, and allowed her to use text to speech services to do work, so she never learned how to "read"

Some states have rules in place that if you graduate from a high school in that state, you're automatically given acceptance into a state college.

Also, as someone who took a couple gap years and managed to completely forget Algebra II and Calculus, you can enter college and take remedial courses to (re)educate yourself. That said, I don't know how that would work with something as fundamental as basic reading skills.

participation grades, and they waived the SATS during covid. also LOTS of money.

Yeah our education system is shitty by design. If you have to be an idiot to believe in our system of government then the solution is simple. More idiots.

thats why they need cannon fodder for the military, but they end up gutting it so much they cant even get into military, and i heard the basic positions they had to lower it for some of the services.

It's a multiple choice test now.

https://www.commonapp.org/

yea that too, or when a parent realizes too late and starts being a helicopter parent during school hours that doesnt help either. while in the last year in HS, a students MOM came to monitor the son during school hours, and made a snobby comment about our parents not caring, i was thinking bitch you waited too long to save your son from a "college-less" career which he was already set in doing, the time was freshman or before he entered hs.

The SAT test is optional at most colleges now.

“ While the increased prevalence of test-optional policies started with the pandemic, many institutions, including some of the most selective colleges, have extended or even made these policies permanent. However, a range of prominent public universities and tech schools, particularly in the South, have been requiring tests again for a couple of years now, and for the 2025-2026 cycle, over half the Ivy League will once again be requiring all applicants to submit a test score”

https://blog.collegevine.com/colleges-requiring-sat-act

in HS no, some students refuse to do them anymore so the TEACHERS give up, even the tough ones. this was back early 2000s, so its been ongoing for 20+years,.

A lot of teachers don't assign students homework. Why would they, when students don't even do the work assigned to them during class?

they were pretty powerless before.